Current NovaBACKUP Version: 21.1.903

NOTE: Use the "Check for Updates" button in the Help menu of the software to find the latest version available. It can take about a week after a new version has been announced before the software will notify users an update is available or using "Help-> Check for Updates" will see a new version.

Download NovaBACKUP PC Agent and Server Agent Here
- Note: NovaBACKUP PC edition was renamed to PC Agent, and the Server and Business Essentials editions were combined into a single Server Agent edition in 21.0.x. All existing PC/Server/B.E. product licenses will continue to function as they used to, to retain the features of those editions.
- NovaBACKUP Hosted Cloud MSPs need to request a new build separately as the "public" release will not work for you. Please contact your account manager directly or request a new build via cloudrequest@novabackup.com
Learn more about Remote Central Management and Monitoring for NovaBACKUP using NovaBACKUP Central Management Here
- Central Management is only compatible with NovaBACKUP v19.0 and above.
- Central Management is intended to be installed on Windows Server Operating Systems

Issues Installing NovaBACKUP? Start Here: Installation ends prematurely on client install

Changelog

Please see the following for an at-a-glance overview of what was added or removed from the software:

NovaBACKUP Major Version Highlights

Microsoft Support Policy EoL (End of Life) Notes

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. The NovaBACKUP Support team is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported as of October 10, 2023.
- Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2,
- Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 (all editions),
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011 as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
  - See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page or Product End of Support page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Applications are no longer supported as of April 11, 2023.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2013,
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010,
- Microsoft SQL Server 2012,
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
NovaBACKUP 21.0.x cannot be installed on any of the above OS's, and Technical Support will not be able to support you on the above OS's or applications. And the same is true for x86 32-bit OS's, as the ability to install on x86 32-bit OS's has been removed in 21.0.x.

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Jump to a Release

Current NovaBACKUP Version / Changelog
Version 21.1.x
Version 21.0.x
Version 20.1.x
Version 20.0.x
Version 19.x
- Unsupported NovaBACKUP Version / Changelog Archive
- Other Notes
Version 21.1.x

21.1.903

Release Date: 5SEP2024

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management
NovaBACKUP Client
Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management
NovaBACKUP Client
Known Issues or limitations with this version
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NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. The NovaBACKUP Support team is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported as of October 10, 2023.
- Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2,
- Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 (all editions),
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011 as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
  - See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page or Product End of Support page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Applications are no longer supported as of April 11, 2023.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2013,
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010,
- Microsoft SQL Server 2012,
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
NovaBACKUP 21.0.x cannot be installed on any of the above OS's, and Technical Support will not be able to support you on the above OS's or applications. And the same is true for x86 32-bit OS's, as the ability to install on x86 32-bit OS's has been removed in 21.0.x.

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Version 21.0.x

21.0.410

Release Date: 12APR2024

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Added the ability to view the details of a local storage device on an agent using the API.
Added the ability to delete a local storage device on an agent using the API.
Added the ability to digitally sign a backup client setup installer with a software publisher certificate.

NovaBACKUP Client

Remove the "(optional)" text at the end of the "Username" and "User password" fields in "Local Backup" and "Legacy Network Device" device types "Network Credentials" tab, seen if adding or editing those two device types, for all non-English client languages. The reason for this change is that the "Username" and "Password" fields are never optional fields in the "Network Credentials" tab for those two device types, only the "Domain name" field would be optional, if the user to be specified is not a Active Directory domain based user.
Display the correct "Job Name" value for "Local Backup'" device type restores, including in the Logs tab (first "Job Name" column), and in the Restore Job Log (top left); which is NULL (blank) for both now.
Change the wording of the "Drive and Folder Path" field name in the “Local Backup” device type "Local Backup" tab dialog, to "Folder or Network Path".
Hide the 'Import' string when doing an automatic import in the log file.
Hide some of the extraneous prune portions of the log in the client log for both Local and Cloud backup device types (the non-legacy backup device types).
Translate the error string "Network error! Unable to access this network share, please check credentials and disconnect existing connections first.", that can be seen when adding or modifying a "Local Backup" device type, if there is already an open connection to that same target network path folder at the time of trying to verify and add the device (read the KB article for more about that here), for all other non-English client languages.
Translate the error string "Network share busy! Please disconnect the network share and try again.", that can be seen when adding or modifying a "Local Backup" device type, if there is already an open connection to that same target network path folder at the time of trying to verify and add the device (read the KB article for more about that here), for all other non-English client languages.

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Going to the Jobs tab, Notification Triggers, or Notification History throws an error saying 'The request could not be parsed'.

NovaBACKUP Client

If an "xSP Cloud Storage" device exists (no matter if the 'ShowLegacyDevices' flag is enabled or not) starting in 21.0.319.1 that breaks the ability to expand the list of backups on that xSP Cloud device in the Restore tab dialog.
21.0.319.1 broke the Home tab > "Cloud Backup" function, and Device tab > "Click HERE to add .." function, the error is "Unable to get desired device type info to continue the signup process" (seen if "ShowLegacyDevices" flag is not enabled).
"Cloud Backup" S3 FPI logs are putting the 'data size' as 0b instead of the size it should be.
Backup crashes if you System State and another plug-in selected for backup at the same time in the same backup job.

Removed Features

All NovaBACKUP products

Temporarily removed the digital signature on all files because the digital signature has expired. Note: The digital signature was a part of the first 21.0.319.1 public release, but that had to be removed in this second 21.0.410.1 public release. This change may cause some Anti-Virus software products to falsely detect an issue with NovaBACKUP 21.0.410.1 installer .exe files, or otherwise .exe installed files, that no longer contain that digital signature on the .exe files, because that digital signature is not present in 21.0.410.1 (for all products). And one AV app that we know of that will falsely detect a problem with 21.0.410.1 is the Norton Anti-Virus series of products. To get around this problem you may have to specifically allow or exclude the NovaBACKUP client main installer .exe and/or the .exe files that do get installed; and to perform the exclusions in your AV product read the KB article here. The Anti-Virus software will normally show an error or pop-up in the AV log to tell you which NovaBACKUP .exe files were flagged this way, or you will need to add an exception to allow the .exe files to be able to execute. This item will be corrected in the next 21.x public release after 21.0.410.1 (no timetable for that).

Known Issues or limitations with this version

System State plugin backup of "Certificate Services", which will only exist as a System State object on a Domain Controller enabled Windows Server OS machine, will fail to backup and no log will be produced if that object is included in the System State backup to the newer non-Legacy Local Storage and Cloud Backup device types. This object does not exist on non-Domain Controller based Windows machines, so unless that is the case then System State backup should work fine for you. For Domain Controller machines you would need to check if "Certificate Services" is a System State plugin object. To workaround this temporarily you could uncheck the box next to "Certificate Services" as a System State object in the list of objects, and/or continue to perform your System State backups to a Legacy backup device type (the "Legacy Local drive device" type or the "Legacy Network Device" type).
Hyper-V plugin backup on the Windows Server 2012 R2 OS will currently fail, if the target is a non-legacy backup device, for the two "Local Backup" and "Cloud Backup" device types, the backup job will end in failure immediately (no HV VMs will backup). Hyper-V backup and restore on the Server 2012 R2 OS, which reached end of life by Microsoft in October 2023, will only work if the target backup device is a legacy backup device, either a Legacy Local drive device type or a Legacy Network Device type, as the backup job target. The ability to perform Hyper-V backup or restores on a Server 2012 R2 OS to non-legacy device types has been removed in 21.x; only Server 2016 OS and up to Server 2022 are supported for Hyper-V backups and restores for the non-legacy backup device targets in 21.x (due to the advancements with Changed Block Tracking (RCT) that was first introduced in Hyper-V 2016). If you have the need for Hyper-V on a Server 2012 OS then you will be required to utilize a legacy device type as the target backup device.
File backups of long paths that are 259 characters or greater (which are either locally selected local drive folders as the source, or are UNC based network selected folders as the source) are not able to backup, and those long path file objects will be skipped and in some cases the stats will not indicate that those long file paths were skipped in the user facing *.summary.xml backup log file. Note: For backups to the non-legacy device types, it will indicate which folders were not able to process and mention the long path name in the produced backup log file, but if invididual files were selected in the backup job (not folder paths that were selected) then it won't process those files, and it won't mention those files anywhere in the log, and those individually selected files won't be counted in the log stats.
In most cases SQL plugin backup to Local Storage and Cloud Backup device types can no longer utilize the "Local System" user to gain permissions to the SQL Server instance to perform backup. In that case it will only be able to run as the user that you have defined in the "Run As" settings of the backup job, so whether you set the Run As tab inside the backup job settings, or if the job is scheduled then based on the "Scheduler" defined backup job "Run As" settings in the schedule entry for that backup job. If it is in fact scheduled, that user that is defined at the backup job level only for the two non-Legacy device types in 21.0.x will be the user that requires both "public" and "sysadmin" role enabled for that same user defined in that SQL Server instance in question.
When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation.
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
Removed the ability to backup to a single tape drive device type. You can utilize the older NovaBACKUP 20.0.x versions for that, as a workaround. The backup device may be visible in the device targets listing and restore index will still visibly display and list that device type, but it likely won't be able to work for backup, especially if the backup job needs to span multiple tapes. You may still be able to restore the backups however, as long as the existing backups on that device type do not span multiple tapes. We can no longer support backup or restores from the single tape device type in NovaBACKUP 21.x, at both the application level and the technical support level.
Removed x86/32-bit OS support; the version 21.x backup client can no longer be installed on a x86/32-bit OS, such as Windows 10 x86/32-bit OS. Image Backup and the new backup engine are no longer compatible with x86/32-bit is the reason for that. If you need that ability you can continue to run an older version of NovaBACKUP client, and for that we would recommend 20.1.1118.1.

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NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. The NovaBACKUP Support team is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported as of October 10, 2023.
- Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2,
- Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 (all editions),
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011 as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
  - See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page or Product End of Support page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Applications are no longer supported as of April 11, 2023.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2013,
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010,
- Microsoft SQL Server 2012,
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
NovaBACKUP 21.0.x cannot be installed on any of the above OS's, and Technical Support will not be able to support you on the above OS's or applications. And the same is true for x86 32-bit OS's, as the ability to install on x86 32-bit OS's has been removed in 21.0.x.

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21.0.319

Release Date: 21MAR2024

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Included the total number of agents and Cloud storage accounts each user is able to manage when retrieving and exporting a list of users in both the API and UI
Included the total amount of storage space used for each user when retrieving and exporting a list of users in both the API and UI
Including the total number of agents running on a Microsoft Windows Workstation and Server Operating Systems each user is able to manage when retrieving and exporting a list of users in both the API and UI
Updated the API for managing groups to improve, and in some cases add, support for queries from the UI
Saving the Management Server URL specified in the setup installer to the database, and also updating it from the Management Server Administration desktop application.
Updated Group details page to allow downloading, customizing, and managing backup client setup installers
Updated the profile page to allow downloading the user’s customized backup client setup installer
Caching customized backup client setup installers to improve performance in subsequent downloads
Added support for managing software publisher certificates to digitally sign customized backup client setup installers using the API and UI

NovaBACKUP Client

Faster backup engine for local backups. The new backup engine for local backups works with local disk based storage devices (by local drive letter path) and network based storage devices (by UNC network folder path). You can read more about the new backup engine and how to take advantage of its features in the new NovaBACKUP 21 Quick Start Guide (.PDF) here: https://www.novabackup.com/qsg.
Incremental forever backup strategy for backup jobs.
Streamlined backup jobs to remove the need for multiple jobs for one backup requirement.
Rotational media enhancements.
Restore view for incremental forever jobs.
Simplified product names to “NovaBACKUP PC Agent” and “NovaBACKUP Server Agent”

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Fixed issue when modifying a backup job when unselecting a child item of a selected root item

NovaBACKUP Client

Rename "Generic S3 Storage Services" to "Cloud Backup" throughout the Client software when referring to Cloud (CLOUD) DATA MOVER device.
Rename "Local Device" to "Local Backup" throughout the Client software when referring to Local device.
Default all backup jobs (local and CLOUD) to have 30 days retention as a default setting in the software for new backup jobs
Make the Backup Settings options for the local devices look the same as the cloud devices.
Periodically sync/import indexes to ensure everything is correct.
Storage Usage and Pruning is not running on Cloud devices if you are over quota.
Retention speed optimization
Implement a way to do a Full Retention to clean up past backups with the new retention scheme.
If we cannot open the previous DCT file we should try to use the next previous DCT file.
Backup to Local device when the local device is a UNC path fails with data channel cannot be opened in some cases (dependent on if source and/or target are on a domain or not).
If engine.exe task is killed or crashes (or a reboot occurs) during a backup, an incomplete restore index entry will be created and if clicked on in restore index will lockup the client and nsService.exe will use 100% CPU
If engine.exe task is killed or crashes (or a reboot occurs) during a Local device backup (any job type), the Status tab, Logs tab, and Backup Log will display Successfully completed job status, instead of a Failed job status
Add the ability for users to import their Local Backup device data to be able to restore it.
Restores of large amounts of folders, files, and histories take a lot longer than they should.
Restoring Cloud and Local backups at the UNC root "node" name object, to original location, fails to restore anything, and the job ends in the Success status but shows no Selected Files, Completed Files, Skipped Files, and no Warnings in the log
Restore asks for encryption key and never restores any data even though the encryption key should be cached. Restore log error: “Could not proceed the backup due to internal error:?err*0x0000:4022*rng: key keyX was not found in the keyring”.
Restoring a file backup that contains UNC path objects to alt. must create a parent folder with the name of the UNC "node" object; and if there are multiple UNC "node" objects to restore create a separate parent folder per each "node" object
Restoring Cloud and Local backups that contain UNC paths, to orig. location, fails to restore anything, with warning: ">wrn*0x0000:007b*rec: unable to recover object //unc///ag-qnap/shared/test1/1.txt .. unable to create file \\?\\\unc\\ag-qnap\ .."
Remove the ability, by default, for new or upgrade installations, to be able to select a legacy device target for normal backup jobs
System State backup job create new or edit, if the "System State" object is selected at the top level of the Backup tab UI, causes the backup job when run to fail instantly.
If a single "Exclude or Include Wildcard" is utilized, will not process any of the open in use files in the selection; but removing the incl or excl filter allows the open files to backup
Remove any unnecessary and incompatible backup log summary items that do not apply to backups to those device types, such as "Backup type: Full", "Verify Mode: Normal", "Open File Backup", etc.
The *.summary.xml backup log for all but SQL plugin backup types to Cloud and Local devices cuts off the first 4 characters of the drive and folder path per each object in the expanded "File(s)" column details in a client backup log
nsexc.ini (default exclusions config file) should be made to work with Local and Cloud device backups, instead of how the exclusions are hard coded currently (not configurable, coming from engine.exe)
If the left [ bracket character is used anywhere in a folder or filename in the selection of a file backup job to a Cloud or Local device, it will cause backup to fail due to a flaw in engine.exe.
Make the Backup "Filters" tab settings work for Local device and Cloud device file backups
Make the Restore "Filters" tab settings work for Local device and Cloud device file restores
Backing up Hyper-V and SQL in a combo job to Cloud fails no matter what the method of selection is, on any language OS.
Remove the “To Time Mode” function at the top of the Restore tab View, in the backup client UI
Restore data from system state backed up to Local and Cloud devices to alternate location.
Backup Selected items for system state for Local and Cloud Devices.
Enable the ability to restore to UNC or local drive paths, that are protected target paths, by adding impersonation calling of engine.exe, otherwise the restore job will run engine.exe with no impersonation and may not have write access to the target.
Removed the ability to backup to a single tape drive device type. You can utilize the older NovaBACKUP 20.0.x versions for that, as a workaround. The backup device may be visible in the device targets listing and restore index will still visibly display and list that device type, but it likely won't be able to work for backup, especially if the backup job needs to span multiple tapes. You may still be able to restore the backups however, as long as the existing backups on that device type do not span multiple tapes. We can no longer support backup or restores from the single tape device type in NovaBACKUP 21.x, at both the application level and the technical support level.
Removed x86/32-bit OS support; the version 21.x backup client can no longer be installed on a x86/32-bit OS, such as Windows 10 x86/32-bit OS. Image Backup and the new backup engine are no longer compatible with x86/32-bit is the reason for that. If you need that ability you can continue to run an older version of NovaBACKUP like 20.1.1118.1, and for that we would recommend 20.1.1118.1..

Known Issues or limitations with this version

If an "xSP Cloud Storage" device exists (no matter if the 'ShowLegacyDevices' flag is enabled or not) starting in 21.0.319.1 that breaks the ability to expand the list of backups on that xSP Cloud device in the Restore tab dialog. Note: This issue was fixed in 21.0.410.1; it is recommended to upgrade to that version.
21.0.319.1 broke the Home tab > "Cloud Backup" function, and Device tab > "Click HERE to add .." function, the error is "Unable to get desired device type info to continue the signup process" (seen if "ShowLegacyDevices" flag is not enabled). Note: This issue was fixed in 21.0.410.1; it is recommended to upgrade to that version.
System State plugin + any other plugin backup method in the same single combined backup job will cause that backup job to fail immediately, if the target is a non-legacy backup device. The workaround would be to perform the System State backup in separate File + System State backup job or just a purely System State backup job to do this. Note: This issue was fixed in 21.0.410.1; it is recommended to upgrade to that version.
System State plugin backup of "Certificate Services", which will only exist as a System State object on a Domain Controller enabled Windows Server OS machine, will fail to backup and no log will be produced if that object is included in the System State backup to the newer non-Legacy Local Storage and Cloud Backup device types. This object does not exist on non-Domain Controller based Windows machines, so unless that is the case then System State backup should work fine for you. For Domain Controller machines you would need to check if "Certificate Services" is a System State plugin object. To workaround this temporarily you could uncheck the box next to "Certificate Services" as a System State object in the list of objects, and/or continue to perform your System State backups to a Legacy backup device type (the "Legacy Local drive device" type or the "Legacy Network Device" type).
Hyper-V plugin backup on the Windows Server 2012 R2 OS will currently fail, if the target is a non-legacy backup device, for the two "Local Backup" and "Cloud Backup" device types, the backup job will end in failure immediately (no HV VMs will backup). Hyper-V backup and restore on the Server 2012 R2 OS, which reached end of life by Microsoft in October 2023, will only work if the target backup device is a legacy backup device, either a Legacy Local drive device type or a Legacy Network Device type, as the backup job target. The ability to perform Hyper-V backup or restores on a Server 2012 R2 OS to non-legacy device types has been removed in 21.x; only Server 2016 OS and up to Server 2022 are supported for Hyper-V backups and restores for the non-legacy backup device targets in 21.x (due to the advancements with Changed Block Tracking (RCT) that was first introduced in Hyper-V 2016). If you have the need for Hyper-V on a Server 2012 OS then you will be required to utilize a legacy device type as the target backup device.
File backups of long paths that are 259 characters or greater (which are either locally selected local drive folders as the source, or are UNC based network selected folders as the source) are not able to backup, and those long path file objects will be skipped and in some cases the stats will not indicate that those long file paths were skipped in the user facing *.summary.xml backup log file. Note: For backups to the non-legacy device types, it will indicate which folders were not able to process and mention the long path name in the produced backup log file, but if invididual files were selected in the backup job (not folder paths that were selected) then it won't process those files, and it won't mention those files anywhere in the log, and those individually selected files won't be counted in the log stats.
In most cases SQL plugin backup to Local Storage and Cloud Backup device types can no longer utilize the "Local System" user to gain permissions to the SQL Server instance to perform backup. In that case it will only be able to run as the user that you have defined in the "Run As" settings of the backup job, so whether you set the Run As tab inside the backup job settings, or if the job is scheduled then based on the "Scheduler" defined backup job "Run As" settings in the schedule entry for that backup job. If it is in fact scheduled, that user that is defined at the backup job level only for the two non-Legacy device types in 21.0.x will be the user that requires both "public" and "sysadmin" role enabled for that same user defined in that SQL Server instance in question.
When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation.
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
Removed the ability to backup to a single tape drive device type. You can utilize the older NovaBACKUP 20.0.x versions for that, as a workaround. The backup device may be visible in the device targets listing and restore index will still visibly display and list that device type, but it likely won't be able to work for backup, especially if the backup job needs to span multiple tapes. You may still be able to restore the backups however, as long as the existing backups on that device type do not span multiple tapes. We can no longer support backup or restores from the single tape device type in NovaBACKUP 21.x, at both the application level and the technical support level.
Removed x86/32-bit OS support; the version 21.x backup client can no longer be installed on a x86/32-bit OS, such as Windows 10 x86/32-bit OS. Image Backup and the new backup engine are no longer compatible with x86/32-bit is the reason for that. If you need that ability you can continue to run an older version of NovaBACKUP client, and for that we would recommend 20.1.1118.1.

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NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. The NovaBACKUP Support team is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported as of October 10, 2023.
- Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2,
- Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 (all editions),
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011 as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
  - See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page or Product End of Support page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Applications are no longer supported as of April 11, 2023.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2013,
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010,
- Microsoft SQL Server 2012,
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
NovaBACKUP 21.0.x cannot be installed on any of the above OS's, and Technical Support will not be able to support you on the above OS's or applications. And the same is true for x86 32-bit OS's, as the ability to install on x86 32-bit OS's has been removed in 21.0.x.

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Version 20.1.x

20.1.1108

Release Date: 13NOV2023

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Added documentation for the HTTP response code 204 for the POST /api/Group endpoint
Updated page to create a group to support associating the group with backup client setup installers.
Automatically update associated managed Amazon S3 compatible devices when updating Amazon S3 compatible cloud storage accounts.
Automatically disable backups to managed Amazon S3 compatible devices when the associated backup client license has expired.
Added ability to set the parent group within its hierarchy when creating a group.
Improved input validation error messages when creating a group.
Improved error message when trying to create a role with the same name as one which already exists.
Increased the default data grid page sizes for the Agents and Groups and Cloud Storage Accounts pages from 10 to 25.
Added ability to get the details of a group using a dedicated API endpoint.
Added ability to export Users to a CSV or XLS file.

NovaBACKUP Client

Added filter options for backup jobs which target Amazon S3 compatible devices.
Removed irrelevant messages in backup job logs for backup jobs which target Amazon S3 compatible devices.

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Fixed an issue when sending a GET request to get a list of groups with expanded Users which may not return the expected response.
Fixed an issue when sending a POST request to create a group with notes which may not return the expected response.
Fixed issues on the Users page where the Role column was not being displayed correctly, and also could not be filtered.
Fixed issue which may prevent Amazon S3 compatible cloud storage accounts' used space from being calculated.
Fixed issue where the encryption key was not being validated correctly when updating an Amazon S3 compatible cloud storage account.
Fixed issue which may prevent disabling user registrations.

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed issue which may prevent pruning old backups for backup jobs which target Amazon S3 compatible devices.
Fixed issue where some files were included twice for backup jobs which target Amazon S3 compatible devices.
Fixed issue where the Amazon S3 compatible device names were not being displayed in backup job logs and email notifications, for backup jobs which target Amazon S3 compatible devices.

Known Issues

For customers that upgraded from for instance 19.x to 20.0.x, or from 20.0.x to 20.1.x in some cases you will not be able to get Scheduled Image Backup jobs to work unless you recreate them as new jobs in 20.1.x. This will be especially true for those customers that are imaging NVMe and M.2 drives, which could be SATA-based or PCIe-based. This is due to a fix we made in 20.1.x that solved the issue of not being able to even visually see certain NVME and M.2 drives in the selection list in the UI to be able to select one of those disks (which did affect many modern NVME hard drives).
When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation.
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
Starting in version 20.1.808 and continuing in 20.1.1108 if you utilize Image Backup (Scheduled or Manual One-Time Image Backup) to image any machine to VHD or VHDX backup types other than Full VHDx backup types (Incremental or Differential VHDx backup types are affected), then the size of the Differential or Incremental VHDx backup will be equal to a Full VHDx image. We are working on a fix for that.
Starting in version 20.1.808 and continuing in 20.1.1108 if you utilize Image Backup (Scheduled or Manual One-Time Image Backup) to image a machine (a BIOS or UEFI Windows OS based machine) with VHD or VHDX backup types, and you try to boot the VM that you associated that produced VHDx file to, you probably will not be able to get the VM to boot up. We are working on a fix for that bug and it will be in the next release version, after 20.1.913. This is due to the OS partition in the VHDx file not having a drive letter assigned to it. To workaround this bug for now you will need to associate a drive letter to the OS partition on that machine by booting to the same version Windows installation .iso media or otherwise WinPE based recovery environment, such as the NovaBACKUP DR boot media, that you create, using either the Simple or Advanced method, and then associate either of those mentioned .iso files to the CD/DVD drive of that Hyper-V VM and set the boot order to boot to the CD/DVD drive instead of the Hard Disk, and then utilize DISKPART to assign the drive letter to the OS partition; you may also need to repair the boot records after that by reading the KB articles we have on that subject (which do not include the instructions on how to assign a drive letter to a partition using DISKPART, for help on that go here): https://support.novabackup.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006722074-Repair-unable-to-boot-VM-after-a-successful-P2V-with-NovaBACKUP-if-the-VM-is-Windows-7-and-above-Workstation-OS- and https://support.novabackup.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006792113-Repair-unable-to-boot-VM-after-a-successful-P2V-with-NovaBACKUP-if-the-VM-is-Windows-Server-2008-and-above-Server-OS-.

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20.1.913

Release Date: 18SEP2023

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Updated the Cloud Storage Accounts page to display the quota for Amazon S3 compatible cloud storage accounts associated with a backup client license key
Added support for managing associations between Groups and Backup Client Setup Installers
Added support for expanding navigation properties when retrieving a list of Groups
Periodically retrieving the quota associated with a backup client license key associated with Amazon S3 compatible cloud storage accounts so Amazon S3 compatible devices are automatically updated during device synchronization with agents

NovaBACKUP Client

Added option to skip existing, same, or newer files during a restore operation for S3 compatible device backup jobs
Improved the DR (Image) recovery environment, now the recovery environment UI contains the Firefox web browser shortcut on the desktop to utilize if you want while booted to the DR (Image) recovery environment, which could be used to look up help documentation about the interface that you are in, or to look up general troubleshooting items in our Knowledge Base (https://support.novastor.com/hc) or otherwise browse the web during a long image restore process. The one requirement would be that the machine would need internet access of course.

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Fixed error which may occur when viewing the details of an agent
Fixed error which may occur when trying to update a user’s email address
Fixed error which may occur when creating a new group
Fixed screenshots in help documentation
Fixed an issue which may cause the setup installer to require the KB2919442 Windows Update to be installed on Windows Server 2012 R2 (Updated version from January 1, 2015) even when it's not actually required, because the KB2919355 Cumulative Windows Update is already installed.

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed an issue when deleting an S3 compatible device that it did not delete all of the local configuration.
Fixed an issue when recovering files from S3 compatible devices that it always overwrote files instead of using the options in the restore settings that were specified.
Fixed an issue which may prevent pruning data from S3 compatible backup jobs in certain cases.
Fixed an issue which may cause a failure when checking credentials for S3 compatible devices.
Fixed an issue which may prevent the “Elapsed Time” from being reported correctly during S3 compatible backup and restore operations.
Fixed an issue which may cause image backups to fail when doing a manual image backup; the error if running 20.1.808.1 would have been seen as "Invalid volume size, size should be within the storage limit 1".
Fixed an issue which may prevent allowing the user to enter the destination’s network credentials for image backups when doing a manual image backup.
Fixed an issue which may cause the setup installer to require the KB2919442 Windows Update to be installed on Windows Server 2012 R2 (Updated version from January 1, 2015) even when it's not actually required, because the KB2919355 Cumulative Windows Update is already installed.
Fixed two minor spelling mistakes that were only seen after booting to the DR (Image) recovery environment.

NovaBACKUP Storage Server

Fixed an issue which may cause the setup installer to require the KB2919442 Windows Update to be installed on Windows Server 2012 R2 (Updated version from January 1, 2015) even when it's not actually required, because the KB2919355 Cumulative Windows Update is already installed.

Known Issues

When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation.
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
Starting in version 20.1.808 and continuing in 20.1.1108 if you utilize Image Backup (Scheduled or Manual One-Time Image Backup) to image any machine to VHD or VHDX backup types other than Full VHDx backup types (Incremental or Differential VHDx backup types are affected), then the size of the Differential or Incremental VHDx backup will be equal to a Full VHDx image. We are working on a fix for that. Note: This works correctly in 20.1.1118.
Starting in version 20.1.808 and continuing in 20.1.913 if you utilize Image Backup (Scheduled or Manual One-Time Image Backup) to image a machine (a BIOS or UEFI Windows OS based machine) with VHD or VHDX backup types, and you try to boot the VM that you associated that produced VHDx file to, you probably will not be able to get the VM to boot up. We are working on a fix for that bug and it will be in the next release version, after 20.1.913. This is due to the OS partition in the VHDx file not having a drive letter assigned to it. To workaround this bug for now you will need to associate a drive letter to the OS partition on that machine by booting to the same version Windows installation .iso media or otherwise WinPE based recovery environment, such as the NovaBACKUP DR boot media, that you create, using either the Simple or Advanced method, and then associate either of those mentioned .iso files to the CD/DVD drive of that Hyper-V VM and set the boot order to boot to the CD/DVD drive instead of the Hard Disk, and then utilize DISKPART to assign the drive letter to the OS partition; you may also need to repair the boot records after that by reading the KB articles we have on that subject (which do not include the instructions on how to assign a drive letter to a partition using DISKPART, for help on that go here): https://support.novabackup.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006722074-Repair-unable-to-boot-VM-after-a-successful-P2V-with-NovaBACKUP-if-the-VM-is-Windows-7-and-above-Workstation-OS- and https://support.novabackup.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006792113-Repair-unable-to-boot-VM-after-a-successful-P2V-with-NovaBACKUP-if-the-VM-is-Windows-Server-2008-and-above-Server-OS-.

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20.1.808

Release Date: 10AUG2023

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Improved database validation to prevent data inconsistency
Added ability to set the S3 compatible storage server when creating and updating an S3
compatible cloud storage account
Added ability to change the default role for new user registrations
Added input validation to enforce creating only unique cloud storage accounts
Prevent deleting the last user account which can edit storage servers
Improved consistency of errors when updating roles using the API
Added ability to limit access to storage servers for specific roles
Added ability to list all cloud storage accounts associated with a specific S3 compatible
storage server
Added used storage space when listing storage servers
Added support for managing the quota for S3 compatible cloud storage accounts and
devices
Added ability to scan and re-calculate cloud storage accounts' used storage space
Added ability to export cloud storage accounts usage for a specific S3 compatible storage
server
Added support for displaying and reporting backup client agents' operating system version information on new operating systems
Added support for optionally deleting the data associated with an S3 compatible cloud
storage when deleting the S3 compatible cloud storage account
Added support for optionally deleting the data associated with an compatible storage server when deleting the S3 compatible storage server
Added support for managing a backup client agent service using an external web browser
Set the backup client agent service’s default startup mode to Automatic (Delayed Start) to
allow managing the backup client agent service from an external web browser
Disabled the ability to change S3 compatible cloud storage account user names to prevent inconsistency when calculating used storage space
Added support for encrypted backups to S3-compatible devices was added.
Added support for backup and restore of Hyper-V virtual machines to and from S3-compatible devices.
Added support for backup and restore of SQL databases to and from S3-compatible devices.
Added support for backup and restore of data from a UNC path to and from S3-compatible devices.
Completely new workflow for scheduling Image backups which simplifies job creation and retention of image files.
Added incremental and differential options when doing an image to a VHD(x) file.
Improved S3 compatible cloud storage accounts and devices to support user names up to 40 characters
Improved group names to support group names up to 64 characters
Added ability to manage (upload, download, customize, and delete) backup client setup
installers
Improved performance, memory management, and communication with agents
Masking the encryption key when creating and updating the S3 compatible cloud
Added quota status and percentage values when querying for S3 compatible cloud storage
account information

NovaBACKUP Client

Improved job names during restore
Improved job status file statistics during a backup
Added ability to specify and enforce quotas for S3 compatible devices
Added ability to stop and resume a backup job, with the ability to restore partial backups for S3 compatible backups.
Added ability to disable backups to an S3 compatible device
Replaced embedded Internet Explorer engine with Edge in order to display “In the news” task panel item on the “Home” tab
Replaced embedded Internet Explorer engine with Edge in order to display job logs
Improved cloud storage devices to support user names up to 40 characters
Improved job logs
Improved image backup and restore
Displaying the amount of free space for S3 compatible devices in the Device tab of the
backup client desktop application
Improved performance of the backup client agent service when sending job logs to CMon
Added support for Windows 11 Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) when creating an
advanced image backup boot media
Added button and updated links to download the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) when creating an image backup boot media (https://novabackup.com/bootmedia)

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Fixed issue where the LastModified field is not updated when a user or role are updated using the API
Fixed issue where the password attempt counts are not reset when unlocking user accounts using the API
Fixed issue where a user could be locked out when updating the user’s details using the API
Fixed issue which unexpectedly enables the Delete button after updating an S3 compatible storage server which cannot be deleted
Fixed issue where cloud storage account types are listed when creating a new cloud storage account when a storage server which supports those cloud storage account types doesn’t exist
Fixed issue where an unexpected storage server type is listed when creating a new storage server
Fixed issue with inconsistent errors when trying to delete a storage server using the API
Fixed issue preventing parameter requirements from appearing in the OpenAPI specification document
Fixed issues with some API calls which use a string as the identifier
Fixed issue when testing the connection to a NovaBACKUP cloud device

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed issue which may prevent recovering data from large backup sets sent to an S3 compatible device
Fixed issue which may cause Hyper-V backups to fail when backing up to an S3 compatible device
Fixed issue when modifying a job where some fields should not be editable in the UI
Fixed issue which may cause backups to fail if there are no SQL Server instances installed on the machine
Fixed issue which may cause drives to not display correctly when creating a scheduled image backup job
Fixed issue which may cause an import to report inaccurate results.
Fixed issues which may cause files with special characters to be excluded from backups
Fixed issue which may prevent the ability to view backup job logs in CMon
Fixed issue which caused the Windows 11 Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) version 22H2 + Win PE addon for the ADK version 22H2 (released May 2023) could not be detected as an installed ADK by the Advanced boot media creation dialog, when attempting to create image backup advanced boot media
Fixed issue which caused job failure if the encryption + verification options were enabled together for Scheduled Image Backup jobs; now you can utilize both of those options together, where in 20.0.x the job would fail if those two options were enabled
Fixed issue which caused some models of NVME or M.2 hard drives in the Scheduled Image Backup selection dialog not to be visible and not able to be selected to image. Special note regarding this fix: For customers that upgraded from 19.x or 20.0.x to 20.1.x, in some cases you will not be able to get Scheduled Image Backup jobs to work unless you recreate them as new jobs in 20.1.x. This will be especially true for those customers that are imaging NVMe and M.2 drives, which could be SATA-based or PCIe-based. This is due to the fix that solved the issue of not being able to even visually see certain NVME and M.2 drives in the selection list in the UI to be able to select one of those disks (which did affect many modern NVME hard drives)

Removed Features / New Requirements

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Removed support for Windows 8.1
Removed dependencies for Internet Explorer (which reduces issues with other browsers)

NovaBACKUP Client

Removed the default CMon server address www.mydomain.com to prevent the backup client agent from trying to connect to it automatically
The support tab was removed in favor of the Help > On The Web > Technical Support menu item
The embedded browser window which appears when the user clicks on "Cloud Backup" on
the "Home" tab, or "Click HERE to add an online device" on the "Device" tab which was used to create managed cloud devices was removed in favor of using the user’s default web browser
Removed "Ask a question" search bar from the task panel on the “Home” tab in favor of the Help > On The Web > Technical Support menu item
Removed support for Windows 8.1
Removed dependencies for Internet Explorer (which reduces issues with other browsers)

Known Issues

- When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
- To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation.
- Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
- Starting in version 20.1.808 and continuing in 20.1.1108 if you utilize Image Backup (Scheduled or Manual One-Time Image Backup) to image any machine to VHD or VHDX backup types other than Full VHDx backup types (Incremental or Differential VHDx backup types are affected), then the size of the Differential or Incremental VHDx backup will be equal to a Full VHDx image. We are working on a fix for that. Note: This works correctly in 20.1.1118.
- Starting in version 20.1.808 and continuing in 20.1.913 if you utilize Image Backup (Scheduled or Manual One-Time Image Backup) to image a machine (a BIOS or UEFI Windows OS based machine) with VHD or VHDX backup types, and you try to boot the VM that you associated that produced VHDx file to, you probably will not be able to get the VM to boot up. We are working on a fix for that bug and it will be in the next release version, after 20.1.913. This is due to the OS partition in the VHDx file not having a drive letter assigned to it. To workaround this bug for now you will need to associate a drive letter to the OS partition on that machine by booting to the same version Windows installation .iso media or otherwise WinPE based recovery environment, such as the NovaBACKUP DR boot media, that you create, using either the Simple or Advanced method, and then associate either of those mentioned .iso files to the CD/DVD drive of that Hyper-V VM and set the boot order to boot to the CD/DVD drive instead of the Hard Disk, and then utilize DISKPART to assign the drive letter to the OS partition; you may also need to repair the boot records after that by reading the KB articles we have on that subject (which do not include the instructions on how to assign a drive letter to a partition using DISKPART, for help on that go here): https://support.novabackup.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006722074-Repair-unable-to-boot-VM-after-a-successful-P2V-with-NovaBACKUP-if-the-VM-is-Windows-7-and-above-Workstation-OS- and https://support.novabackup.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006792113-Repair-unable-to-boot-VM-after-a-successful-P2V-with-NovaBACKUP-if-the-VM-is-Windows-Server-2008-and-above-Server-OS-.

NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. NovaBACKUP Support is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported by Microsoft as of January 14. 2020.
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008,
- Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
- See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Programs are no longer supported as of October 13, 2020.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (all editions)
NovaBACKUP 20.1.x cannot be installed on any of the above OS's, and Technical Support will not be able to assist in that case.

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Version 20.0.x

20.0.1118

Release Date: 20NOV2022

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Added permission to indicating a role can reset user passwords.
Added additional security checks on API endpoints.
Added ability to limit user access to specific Amazon S3 compatible storage servers.

NovaBACKUP Client

Added support for encrypted backups to S3-compatible devices was added.
Added support for backup and restore of Hyper-V virtual machines to and from S3-compatible devices.
Added support for backup and restore of SQL databases to and from S3-compatible devices.
Added support for backup and restore of data from a UNC path to and from S3-compatible devices.
Completely new workflow for scheduling Image backups which simplifies job creation and retention of image files.
Added incremental and differential options when doing an image to a VHD(x) file.

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Fixed IE11 compatability when displaying cloud storage accounts in the data grid in the embedded web browser in the backup client desktop application.
Fixed issue where the 'Completed files (size)' stat seen in the logs, viewed in the CMon, were not accurate for S3-compatible device backups and restores.
Fixed issues where backups and restores to an S3-compatible device were not reporting the 'Current Speed' stat in the active running job that is viewed when a backup or restore job was running, and fixed the "effective throughput" message stat in S3-compatible device backup and restore logs (Messages section), viewed in the CMon, not being displayed at all for certain backup types. All current S3-compatible device backup types (File, MS SQL, and Hyper-V) should now display those items properly in the backup and restore logs that are produced.

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed issue with the Restore index and being able to list and restore backups to local devices produced by v19.8 and prior versions, if the 19.8 and prior client were upgraded to 20.0.1011.1 those local backup indexed entries were not even listed in that case.
Fixed issue when restoring multiple Microsoft SQL Server database backups. This was mainly affecting multi-instance Microsoft SQL Server installs.
Fixed issue enabling encryption for Scheduled Image Backup jobs, either when creating the scheduled job or when editing an existing scheduled job.
Fixed issues importing and restoring backups from S3-compatible device.
Fixed issue when restoring a Hyper-V VM backup on a S3-compatible device to original location nsservice crashes with an exception.
Fixed issue where the 'Completed files (size)' stat seen in the logs, viewed in the backup client, were not accurate for S3-compatible device backups and restores.
Fixed issues where backups and restores to an S3-compatible device were not reporting the 'Current Speed' stat in the Status tab when a backup or restore job was running, and fixed the "effective throughput" message stat in S3-compatible device backup and restore logs (Messages section), viewed in the backup client, not being displayed at all for certain backup types. All current S3-compatible device backup types (File, MS SQL, and Hyper-V) should now display those items properly in the backup and restore logs that are produced.
Fixed the 6 minute delay at the start when backing up Microsoft SQL Server databases to an S3-compatible device.
Log a warning message when an unsupported backup source object (currently that includes the System State, MS Exchange, and VMware plugins), is selected in a backup job's selection properties with an S3-compatible device as the backup destination/target.

Removed Features / New Requirements

General

Removed support (and the registration link in the Help menu of the backup client) for the NovaBACKUP Granular Restore (NBGR) for granular restore of Microsoft Exchange single mailboxes and Microsoft SQL Server. You can still feel free to utilize the version that you already have downloaded and installed prior with your licensed version of NovaBACKUP, but we will no longer provide support for the NovaBACKUP Granular Restore (NBGR) application.
Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 SBS SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server SBS 2011, and Windows 8.0 are no longer supported. Microsoft had ended support for Windows 8.0 since Jan. 12, 2016, and Windows Server 2008 since Jan. 14, 2020. Microsoft had ended support for Windows 7, Server 2008 SBS SP2, 2008 R2, and SBS 2011 since Jan 14, 2020. The setup installers have not yet been updated to prevent installation on those unsupported operating systems. The help documentation have not yet been updated with the new system requirements.
The setup installers have been updated with .NET Framework 4.7.2 as a prerequisite and is automatically installed.

NovaBACKUP Central Management

“Microsoft ASP.NET Core 3.1.10 - Windows Hosting Bundle” was added as a prerequisite for the NovaBACKUP Central Management (CMon) web application and can be automatically installed as part of the CMon setup installer. CMon no longer supports Windows Server 2012. .NET Core 3.1 isn’t supported on Windows Server 2012, even though Microsoft’s extended support for that operating system doesn’t end until Oct. 10, 2023. The setup installer has not yet been updated to prevent installation on Windows Server 2012. The help documentation has not yet been updated with the new system requirements. Windows Server 2012 R2 is still supported.
NovaBACKUP Central Management (CMon) no longer supports the “Stand-alone web server” and “SQLite” database provider. The setup installer has not yet been updated to prevent selecting the SQLite and stand-alone web server option. The help documentation has not yet been updated to remove the deprecated options.

Known Issues

When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
- To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
Mounting Image Backups greater than 2TB crashes the system (BSOD) when running on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. NovaBACKUP Support is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported by Microsoft as ofJanuary 14. 2020.
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008,
- Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
- See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Programs are no longer supported as of October 13, 2020.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (all editions)
NovaBACKUP 20.0.x cannot be installed on any of the above OS's, and Technical Support will not be able to assist in that case.

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20.0.1011

Release Date: 12OCT2022

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Updated database schema to support more file backup job settings and improved data integrity.
Added support for S3-compatible devices.
Added support for file backup jobs with S3-compatible devices as the destination device.
Added support for S3-compatible destinations as a Storage Server for cloud backups.
Added support for S3-compatible Cloud Storage Accounts.
Additional API calls were implemented along with examples of calls.
Updated to the latest UI framework and .NET hosting bundle.

NovaBACKUP Client

Added support for encrypted backups to S3-compatible devices was added.
Added support for backup and restore of Hyper-V virtual machines to and from S3-compatible devices.
Added support for backup and restore of SQL databases to and from S3-compatible devices.
Added support for backup and restore of data from a UNC path to and from S3-compatible devices.
Completely new workflow for scheduling Image backups which simplifies job creation and retention of image files.
Added incremental and differential options when doing an image to a VHD(x) file.

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

Fixed issues when filtering rows using the Modified column in the file selection grid in the connected agent’s file backup job view.
Fixed input validation errors related to the selected target destination device when creating, viewing, and updating a file backup job.
Fixed one-time schedule’s “Start time” popup window on smaller screen resolutions.
Fixed issue which may cause an error when modifying the custom email server file backup job’s settings.
Fixed issue preventing installation if the selected IIS website is not listening on port 80.
Fixed typos in the file backup job’s setting dialog related to email notifications.
Fixed typos in the connected agent job file selection’s Type column filter menu.
Fixed issue causing errors on certain pages if a cookie on the same website domain name contains non-ASCII characters.
Fixed issues when selecting dates and times when the user’s time zone is different from the server’s time zone.
Fixed tooltips displaying “null” in the destination field when creating a file backup job.
Fixed input validation error messages for date and time fields so they display a more detailed input validation error.
Fixed issue preventing users from entering a decimal value in the file backup job filter setting’s Size fields.
Fixed error when viewing a virtual machine file-level backup log.
Fixed the order in which messages are displayed when viewing job logs.
Fixed issue when trying to filter jobs by their type.
Fixed issue when viewing the selected items of a connected agent’s file backup job.

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed issue preventing connections to Amazon S3 servers in specific regions.
Fixed issue which may prevent restoring a Hyper-V virtual machine from a cloud storage device.
Fixed issue preventing backups to hang if the job name contains special characters.
Fixed issue preventing S3-compatible devices from reporting their total used space to Central Management.
Fixed issue preventing connections to Amazon S3-compatible servers running on a port other than 443.
Fixed issues when creating differential image backups restoring image backups.
Fixed issues backing up to S3-compatible storage locations that only support HTTPS.

Removed Features / New Requirements

General

Removed support (and the registration link in the Help menu of the backup client) for the NovaBACKUP Granular Restore (NBGR) for granular restore of Microsoft Exchange single mailboxes and Microsoft SQL Server. You can still feel free to utilize the version that you already have downloaded and installed prior with your licensed version of NovaBACKUP, but we will no longer provide support for the NovaBACKUP Granular Restore (NBGR) application.
Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 SBS SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server SBS 2011, and Windows 8.0 are no longer supported. Microsoft had ended support for Windows 8.0 since Jan. 12, 2016, and Windows Server 2008 since Jan. 14, 2020. Microsoft had ended support for Windows 7, Server 2008 SBS SP2, 2008 R2, and SBS 2011 since Jan 14, 2020. The setup installers have not yet been updated to prevent installation on those unsupported operating systems. The help documentation have not yet been updated with the new system requirements.
The setup installers have been updated with .NET Framework 4.7.2 as a prerequisite and is automatically installed.

NovaBACKUP Central Management

“Microsoft ASP.NET Core 3.1.10 - Windows Hosting Bundle” was added as a prerequisite for the NovaBACKUP Central Management (CMon) web application and can be automatically installed as part of the CMon setup installer. CMon no longer supports Windows Server 2012. .NET Core 3.1 isn’t supported on Windows Server 2012, even though Microsoft’s extended support for that operating system doesn’t end until Oct. 10, 2023. The setup installer has not yet been updated to prevent installation on Windows Server 2012. The help documentation has not yet been updated with the new system requirements. Windows Server 2012 R2 is still supported.
NovaBACKUP Central Management (CMon) no longer supports the “Stand-alone web server” and “SQLite” database provider. The setup installer has not yet been updated to prevent selecting the SQLite and stand-alone web server option. The help documentation has not yet been updated to remove the deprecated options.

Known Issues

When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
- To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
Mounting Image Backups greater than 2TB crashes the system (BSOD) when running on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. NovaBACKUP Support is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported by Microsoft as of January 14. 2020.
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008,
- Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
- See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Programs are no longer supported as of October 13, 2020.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (all editions)
NovaBACKUP 20.0.x cannot be installed on any of the above OS's, and Technical Support will not be able to assist in that case.

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Version 19.x

19.8.1325

Release Date: 02FEB2022

New Features

CMon

Updated database schema to support more file backup job settings and improved data integrity.
Updated API to support more file backup and restore job settings and functions.
Added ability to list, create, view, and delete file backup jobs for an agent.
Users are prevented from deleting a device that is still being used for an existing job to prevent backup failures.
Added support for Windows Server 2022 operating system.

NovaBACKUP Client

Added support for adding, backing up to, and restoring from S3-compatible devices. Read the 'Getting started with Generic S3 Storage Services devices' KB article here.
Added details to logs to indicate files being skipped because they already exist when backing up to a cloud storage device.
Added support for specifying network credentials for backup retention jobs.
Added support for default email settings for scheduled image backup and retention jobs.
Updated Support tab with embedded web browser to emulate Internet Explorer 10 mode; to allow
the Support tab to work on Windows Server operating systems. Note: IE Enhanced Security
Configuration (ESC) is required to be disabled for admins. Read the how-to KB article here.
Updated text in the Status tab from “Backing up files” to “Backing up objects”.
Updated End User License Agreement, Copyright, and Company Address.
Improved job log to indicate detailed error messages.
Added support for Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022 operating systems.

NovaBACKUP Storage Server

Added support for Windows Server 2022 operating system.

Fixed Issues

CMon

Fixed issue when deleting a cloud storage device.
Fixed issue with web API documentation start menu shortcut.
Fixed issue preventing non-Administrator users from creating a trigger.
Fixed issue preventing agents from being deleted.
Fixed issue preventing users from dragging and dropping agents from one group to another.
Fixed issue preventing users from displaying all cloud storage accounts and jobs.
Fixed security issue which may expose sensitive information under certain conditions.
Fixed issue preventing automatically installing Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2 during installation.
Fixed issue which may cause the “Management Server” windows service from crashing.
Fixed issue when checking for updates where some text wasn’t displayed correctly.
Fixed issue preventing automatically installing Microsoft ASP.NET Core 3.1 web hosting bundle if a newer major version is already installed.

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed issue which may prevent files in OneDrive from being backed up.
Fixed issue which may prevent users from being able to update the “Maximum runtime” setting for a scheduled job.
Fixed issue which may prevent scheduled image jobs from enforcing the “Maximum runtime” setting.
Fixed issue which may cause files to remain on the system if a scheduled image backup job is canceled.
Fixed issue which may prevent removing the check mark in the “Allow Scheduled Jobs to Execute” check box.
Fixed issue which may cause text on the splash screen to be cut off.
Fixed issue preventing automatically installing Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2 during installation.
Removed superfluous error message “Could not proceed the backup due to internal error: Expected (XXX) volume files but could only read (XXX-1)” from log files.
Fixed issues when creating logs and updating the status of an image backup job under certain conditions.
Fixed issue where the Back button doesn’t transition to the previous dialog when the setup installer is run in the “Change” maintenance mode.
Fixed issue with the progress bar when an Image backup is canceled.

NovaBACKUP Storage Server

In some cases the Storage Server throws an error trying to upload the APF file and then the client will get stuck trying to download the APF file.
Fixed backup failures which may occur when backing up files with a corrupt creation date.
Fixed issue preventing automatically installing Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2 during installation.

Removed Features / New Requirements

CMon

The setup installer prevents users from installing on Windows 7, Windows 8.0, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Small Business Server 2011, and Windows 10 Version 1507; Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 10 Version 1607, or higher is required.

NovaBACKUP Client

The setup installer prevents users from installing on Windows 7, Windows 8.0, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Small Business Server 2011, and Windows 10 Version 1507; Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows 10 Version 1607, or higher is required.

NovaBACKUP Storage Server

The setup installer prevents users from installing on Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Small Business Server 2011; Windows Server 2012 or higher is required.

What’s new in Granular Restore 21.3.0 ?

Granular Restore 21.3.0 (v21.3.0.56756 build, Release Date: February 8, 2022) contains support for newer Exchange Server versions and newer operating systems, improvements in functionality and bug fixes. You can check your installed version from the Granular Restore app to see what version is installed.

New features and enhancements:

Added support of Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 CU11.
Added support of Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 CU22.
Added support of Windows Server 2022.
Added support of Windows 11.
Added Debug Logging feature to make it easier to gather log files for troubleshooting.

Fixed bugs:

Fixed a bug when Public Folder items and Inbox were missing for some users.
Fixed a bug when Mailboxes were missing for some users.
Fixed a bug when SQL Restore sometimes could not load all rows of large tables.
Fixed a bug when Exchange restore could not perform export into the original mailbox in some cases.

Known Issues

VMware ESXi 7.x and VMware vSphere 7.x are not yet supported by NovaBACKUP.
When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
- To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.

NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. NovaBACKUP Support is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.

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19.7.409

Release Date: 16APR2021

New Features

CMon

Improved performance. Migrated the CMon web application to ASP.NET Core MVC5.
Introduced preliminary support for JSON Web Token (JWT) authentication through the API.
Added ability to list backup jobs for an agent through the API.
Added ability to create a file-level backup job for an agent through the API.
Added ability to delete a job for an agent through the API.
Added ability to read the details of a file-level backup job for an agent through the API.
Added ability to update a file-level backup job for an agent through the API.

NovaBACKUP Client

Added agentsvc.log file to the LogCollector collection.
Display status text when restoring a large file from a cloud device.

Storage Server

Removed verbose messages from getting logged in Masterlog.txt.

Fixed Issues

CMon

Fixed issue where the backup client agent service takes a long time to stop/restart if it cannot connect to CMon, and/or gets disconnected.

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed issue where a restore may fail from backups on a cloud device. In some instances restoring from the Cloud Device will show dates of 2038 and sizes of 300GB for every file, making restores fail. When going to the restore view of a Cloud Backup you will sometimes get a dialog box of 'the apf file was not found' so no restore can be done.
Fixed issue where a backup may not run. An "Account is currently active" pop-up will hold all further backups <fixed>.

Removed Features / New Requirements

General

Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 SBS SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server SBS 2011, and Windows 8.0 are no longer supported. Microsoft had ended support for Windows 8.0 since Jan. 12, 2016, and Windows Server 2008 since Jan. 14, 2020. Microsoft had ended support for Windows 7, Server 2008 SBS SP2, 2008 R2, and SBS 2011 since Jan 14, 2020. The setup installers have not yet been updated to prevent installation on those unsupported operating systems. The help documentation have not yet been updated with the new system requirements.
The setup installers have been updated with .NET Framework 4.7.2 as a prerequisite and is automatically installed.

CMon

“Microsoft ASP.NET Core 3.1.10 - Windows Hosting Bundle” was added as a prerequisite for the CMon web application and can be automatically installed as part of the CMon setup installer. CMon no longer supports Windows Server 2012. .NET Core 3.1 isn’t supported on Windows Server 2012, even though Microsoft’s extended support for that operating system doesn’t end until Oct. 10, 2023. The setup installer has not yet been updated to prevent installation on Windows Server 2012. The help documentation has not yet been updated with the new system requirements. Windows Server 2012 R2 is still supported.
CMon no longer supports the “Stand-alone web server” and “SQLite” database provider. The setup installer has not yet been updated to prevent selecting the SQLite and stand-alone web server option. The help documentation has not yet been updated to remove the deprecated options.

Known Issues

VMware ESXi 7.x and VMware vSphere 7.x are not yet supported by NovaBACKUP.
When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
- To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
Mounting Image Backups greater than 2TB crashes the system (BSOD) when running on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. NovaBACKUP Support is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported by Microsoft as of January 14. 2020.
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008,
- Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011 as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
- See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Programs are no longer supported as of October 13, 2020.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (all editions)
NovaBACKUP 19 should still work, but any Technical Support will be limited. Installing a newer version may not be possible if running on an OS in the short list above, or any OS that is older.

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19.6.1118

Release Date: 02DEC2020

New Features

CMon

Added the ability to add, view, edit, and delete network devices.
Improved error message logging, performance, and maximized default communication channels, concurrency, and timeouts, IIS queue limits and worker processes, and database pool size.

NovaBACKUP Client

Added the ability to unmount a virtual machine disk image (VHDX).

Fixed Issues

CMon

Fixed issue where the Agents and Groups page doesn’t always display the last backup date.

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed issue where the backup client fails to upgrade with the error message “Failed to find node …“ in specific environments.
Fixed issue where a scheduled image backup with a network destination and overwrite enabled fails if the backup file already exists.

Known Issues

VMware ESXi 7.x and VMware vSphere 7.x are not yet supported by NovaBACKUP.
When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
- To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
Mounting Image Backups greater than 2TB crashes the system (BSOD) when running on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. NovaBACKUP Support is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported by Microsoft as of January 14. 2020.
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008,
- Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011 as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
- See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Programs are no longer supported as of October 13, 2020.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (all editions)
NovaBACKUP 19 should still work, but any Technical Support will be limited. Installing a newer version may not be possible if running on an OS in the short list above, or any OS that is older.

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19.6.1012

Release Date: 21OCT2020

New Features

CMon

Added the ability to add, view, edit, and delete network devices.
Added new user role permissions “View Storage Server Groups” and “Edit Storage Server Groups”.
Added the ability to select the storage server groups users are able to manage.
Added a breadcrumb trail navigation component for easier navigation between pages.
Improved web pages for smaller screen sizes.

NovaBACKUP Client

Added an indication of the target restore folder in the Status tab and log file.
Added a right-click menu when viewing log details to allow copying text.
Replaced instances of “xSP Accounts” with “Cloud Accounts”, “xSP device” with “NovaBACKUP Cloud device”, and “xSP data” with “Data” in the backup client.

Fixed Issues

CMon

Fixed an issue where deleting an agent in the “Agents and Groups” view may cause an error due to a database command timeout.
Fixed an issue where an orphaned agent may get created when an error occurs when an agent tries to connect.
Fixed an issue where creating a cloud storage account with a password containing special characters in a special order may fail.
Fixed an issue where users may not be able to check-mark the check-box to accept the Terms and Conditions with another specific Internet Explorer security setting.
Fixed an issue where the Management Service may crash with an out of memory error when receiving relatively large job log files from multiple agents at the same time.
- This requires an update to the backup client.

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed an issue where cloud backups may fail with error e0020009: Resource is currently in use.
Fixed an issue where the backup client service may crash when selecting a USB drive as a source for backup.
Fixed an issue with cloud based backups that had a potential to remove local files after they were backed up in specific cases.
Fixed an issue where cloud based backups may not retain version history when FastBIT is used.
Fixed an issue where a full backup is re-sent if the APF file could not be retrieved from the Storage Server.
Fixed an issue where backup clients may not retrieve an updated license from the Storage Server.

NovaBACKUP Storage Server

Fixed an issue where the Configuration Manager doesn't display Group descriptions in the Description column.
Fixed a typo in the Configuration Manager’s Group Licensing tab

Known Issues

Image Backup to a Network Share using Overwrite will fail to write data to the destination if a .NDF backup file already exists at the destination (2nd run) and remain running indefinitely or until the backup services are restarted.
- The current Workaround is to remove the existing backup file before the Image Backup job is scheduled to run (the first step of any Overwrite backup job)
- Only one backup job can run at a time, so if this occurs, other scheduled jobs will never execute
VMware ESXi 7.x and VMware vSphere 7.x are not yet supported by NovaBACKUP.
When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
- To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
Mounting Image Backups greater than 2TB crashes the system (BSOD) when running on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. NovaBACKUP Support is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported by Microsoft as of January 14. 2020.
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008,
- Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011 as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
- See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Programs are no longer supported as of October 13, 2020.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (all editions)
NovaBACKUP 19 should still work, but any Technical Support will be limited. Installing a newer version may not be possible if running on an OS in the short list above, or any OS that is older.

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19.5.1812

Release Date: 17JUN2020

New Features

General

Added support for activating licenses on systems with SSL 3.0/TLS 1.0 is disabled.

Application Update Server

Added ability to log XML SOAP requests and responses for diagnostics, analysis, and troubleshooting queries from the backup client

NovaBACKUP Storage Server

Added support for CMon to query Groups' usage

CMon

Improved performance
Added support for IE Enhanced Security Configuration (ESC) settings
Added ability to export Storage Server Groups' usage to CSV and PDF
Added ability to enforce HTTPS, by redirecting HTTP requests to HTTPS, when using IIS

NovaBACKUP Client

Added support for Microsoft Exchange 2019
Backup Client is able to recognize if the network connection is interrupted during a backup to cloud.
Added support for IE Enhanced Security Configuration (ESC) settings
Hyperlinks in the embedded browser window which open in a new window will open in the default browser.

Fixed Issues

CMon

Fixed issues with duplicate query string parameters
Added missing image in the online help documentation

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed issues when automatically downloading and updating the backup client
Fixed issue where unchecking the “Show notification when starting the program” checkbox doesn’t get saved correctly
Fixed issue when backing up and restoring Exchange
Fixed issue with IE security settings which may prevent the user from being able to register for a cloud account
Fixed issue where the prompt “A computer with the same name already exists under your backup account.” unexpectedly appears.
Removed excessive messages from being displayed in the log viewer
Fixed issue where the backup client installation or upgrade may fail if a previous license key exists but the backup client installation is configured to ignore the previous license key

Known Issues

Image Backup to a Network Share using Overwrite will fail to write data to the destination if a .NDF backup file already exists at the destination (2nd run) and remain running indefinitely or until the backup services are restarted.
- The current Workaround is to remove the existing backup file before the Image Backup job is scheduled to run (the first step of any Overwrite backup job)
- Only one backup job can run at a time, so if this occurs, other scheduled jobs will never execute
VMware ESXi 7.x and VMware vSphere 7.x are not yet supported by NovaBACKUP.
When attempting to copy or backup files from a USB Storage device that does not support VSS operations (Flash Drives in particular): You MUST clear the checkbox in the job [Settings] for "Enable open file backup" so that Microsoft VSS is not utilized. If you do not do this, the backup service will likely stop responding.
When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
- To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
Mounting Image Backups greater than 2TB crashes the system (BSOD) when running on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. NovaBACKUP Support is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported by Microsoft as of January 14. 2020.
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008,
- Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011 as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
- See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Programs are no longer supported as of October 13, 2020.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (all editions)
NovaBACKUP 19 should still work, but any Technical Support will be limited. Installing a newer version may not be possible if running on an OS in the short list above, or any OS that is older.

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19.5.1623

Release Date: 24APR2020

NovaBACKUP Client features and fixes:

New feature: Added support for Windows 10 April 2020 Cumulative Update (version 1909).
New feature: Added support for Microsoft SQL Server 2019.
New feature: Option to suppress missed scheduled backups. In Default Settings > Advanced Settings as 'Run missed scheduled jobs on service startup'. This option is enabled by default.
Fixed: Progress Bar during Verification stage not working on Tape or Disk.
Fixed: When creating a schedule via command line there is no option for maximum run time.
Fixed: VMware 6.5 & 6.7 cannot perform Incremental or Differential backups; fail with CBT error.
Fixed: Limit network bandwidth for Cloud / xSP device does not work with plug-in data, it doesn’t actually limit the bandwidth.
Fixed: Cloud account with no quota set will show a Server storage of inf% using X amount of GB of 0KB.
Fixed: Unchecking a selected checkbox from the Restore tab should clear all selected versions in client (Cloud / xSP Storage device only).

NovaBACKUP Client - Image Backup related features and fixes:

Fixed: Creation of a sector-based images for drives larger than 8 TB not possible. The maximum disk size supported is now 64 TB.

CMon related features and fixes:

New feature: Terms and Conditions agreement included in Cloud Registration flow.
New feature: Cloud backup account creation and log ins flow optimized. (Login flow)
New feature: Ability to re-attach cloud device without inputting password twice (Login flow).
New feature: Update Storage Server to License Server Sync Logic to immediately show new cloud storage amount.
New feature: Added a connect button to the first page you see when you log in (list of storage accounts).
New feature: Improve UI in Client embedded browser dialog for reattaching storage.
Fixed: Could not load file or assembly 'Z.EntityFramework.Plus.EF6".
Fixed: CMon 19.4.923.2 and 19.4.916.2 would not install on Windows Server 2012 R2 w/September 2019 Cumulative Updates installed, servicing stack TiWorker.exe error.
Fixed: SQL command execution timeout when trying to delete old backup agent job history.
Fixed: A timing/multi-threading issue related to "AgentInMemorySettings" preventing connection.
Fixed: MSP Dashboards randomly showing other customers machines.
Fixed: Deleting notifications associated with job histories when grooming logs

Cloud (xSP) related features and fixes:

Fixed: The limit network bandwidth option in an xSP device does not work with plug-in data, it doesn’t actually limit the bandwidth. Transfer throttle feature during xSP Device setup doesn't appear to work with Exchange or SQL transfers, is being ignored.
Fixed: Storage Server Configuration Manager version is statically set (hard coded) as 19.3.0 instead of the version it actually is. It will now display the correct installed version. Only applies to Storage Server 19.3 & 19.4.
Fixed: Storage Server exception: BufferTooSmall : Buffer size 8192 is insufficient for requested data

What’s new in Granular Restore 21.2.0 ?

Granular Restore 21.2.0 contains support for newer Exchange Server versions, improvements in functionality and bug fixes. You can check your installed version from the Granular Restore app to see what version is installed.

New features and enhancements:

Show deleted items for public folders.
Implement universal language encodings support in the message body.
Use PropertyBlobDelta in addition to PropertyBlob to obtain property values in OWA.
Treat 0x32 as ES2016 in the database version detection algorithm.
Update User Guide for ADR 21.2.0
Some Properties Updated via OWA are Not Restored Correctly
Fixes associated with previous versions.

Fixed bugs:

ES2019, REPORT.IPM.Note.IPNRN class items, some symbols at body are not shown correctly in preview
ES2019, IPM.Task class items created in OWA, start/due date are not restored after restoring to PST
ES2019, IPM.Task class items created in OWA, owner is not restored after restoring to PST
Deleted rows are shown with NULL values in MSSQL
DR doesn't display russian/arabic letters in preview with Rich Text/HTML formatting
Characters from koi8-r charset are not supported in HTML body
Localized characters displayed
Simplified Chinese email contents are garbage in Arcserve UDP Exchange Granular Restore Preview
Technical/system items should be hidden from user
Product crashes while searching in database
Unable to preview data from SQL databases with inconsistent first_page

Known Issues

Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 is not yet supported by NovaBACKUP.
VMware ESXi 7.x and VMware vSphere 7.x are not yet supported by NovaBACKUP.
When attempting to copy or backup files from a USB Storage device that does not support VSS operations (Flash Drives in particular): You MUST clear the checkbox in the job [Settings] for "Enable open file backup" so that Microsoft VSS is not utilized. If you do not do this, the backup service will likely stop responding.
When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
- To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation
Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. The software will detect if these Windows installation files are not in place and tell you if they are not. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the Image Boot Media.
Mounting Image Backups greater than 2TB crashes the system (BSOD) when running on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

NOTES:

Please see Microsoft Products Ending Support in the Microsoft Docs system. NovaBACKUP Support is only able to provide assistance for products that are still supported by Microsoft.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Operating Systems are no longer supported by Microsoft as of January 14. 2020.
- Windows 7 (all editions),
- Windows Server 2008,
- Windows Server 2008 R2,
- Windows Small Business Server 2011 as this is built on Windows Server 2008 R2
- See the Microsoft Product Lifecycle page for more information.
As Per Microsoft’s Support Policy, the following Programs are no longer supported as of October 13, 2020.
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (all editions)
NovaBACKUP 19 should still work, but any Technical Support will be limited. Installing a newer version may not be possible if running on an OS in the short list above, or any OS that is older.

<top>

19.4.1119

Release Date: 21NOV2019

Fixed Bugs

Fixed an issue where the cloud/xSP device can misread the computer/domain name and cause a full backup
Fixed displaying the Size and Free fields for xSP/Cloud devices in the “Available Devices” list in the “Devices” tab
Fixed displaying the storage gauge in the status bar
Fixed refreshing the “Available Devices” list in the “Devices” tab and storage gauge in the status bar when a cloud/xsp device is added and removed

What's new in Granular Restore 21.1.0.54513 (Dec 13, 2019) ?

Granular Restore 21.1.0.54513 contains improvements in functionality and bug fixes.
- You can check your installed version from within the Granular Restore application to see what version is installed.
New major features and improvements:
- Support of non-default email body encoding.
- Fix export contact information into live server.
- Support for displaying Unicode characters in preview.
- Optimizing the speed of reading attachments.
- Reading and exporting new tasks properties.
- Fix export to original mailbox Exchange 2019.
- Internal fixes and optimizations.
- Fixes associated with previous versions.

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19.4.923

Release Date: 24SEP2019

Fixed Bugs

Fixed backup client progress bar not updating.

<top>

19.4.916

Release Date: 20SEP2019

General features and fixes:

Added support for Windows 10 August 2019 and September 2019 Cumulative updates.
Fixed issue with scheduled jobs that failed to not run again until they were modified.
Fixed issue if no medium is inserted into LTO tape drive, NovaBACKUP client would wait forever.
Fixed issue when utilizing environment variables in the backup job/script.
Fixed issue with Custom Commands impersonation levels (Run As).
Fixed NovaBACKUP GUI crashes after installing July 2019 Cumulative Update for Windows Server 2016 for x64-based Systems (KB4507460).
- Install August 2019 CU for Server 2016 to fix this. Read here.
Fixed Tab order is wrong when configuring Email notification/reports in the backup client.
Removed Windows XP & Windows Server 2003 specific code and support.
- We removed old code in the engine to take advantage of newer libraries, allowing for a smaller footprint and more reliability.

LogCollector related features and fixtures

New feature to collect logs for support tickets integrated in to the backup client in Help > Run Log Collector.
Added support in LogCollector Utility to request from WMI a list of Installed Programs.
Fixed issues with LogCollector Utility copying ProgramData\..\..\Temp\ files. It only copies .log files now.

Image backup related features and fixes:

Fixed issue retention does not delete differential Image Backup files.
Fixed issue VHD and VHDX created by Image Backup does not boot.
Fixed issue where a Scheduled Image Backup fails to start if nsService is running as a user account.
Fixed issue where the progress bar in the Support tab during image backup shows no progress or flashes.
Fixed issue where Image Backup creates a temp file named "Temp131975668423224168" in root dir C: and backup destination device; the file could only be deleted after reboot. It no longer creates this file.

CMon related features and fixes:

New feature to query the Application Update Server to check for updates to CMon.
New feature to be able to send a welcome email to a newly created CMon user.
Added the ability for CMon admin to generate a report for all CMon users via "Export to CSV" button.
Added the ability for a CMon user to generate a report for their cloud storage accounts
Added a global option to disable CMon user registration.
Added feature to allow an admin to change the Storage Server Group when adding a new user.
Added feature to allow a CMon user to change the restorable window, number of computers, and quota settings for their cloud storage accounts.
Added feature to create a unique Storage Server group for each CMon user.
Added more remote manager like functionality to support MSP's that want to manage cloud accounts.
Fixed issue with intermittent errors adding Cloud Storage device through the Cloud button.
Fixed deleting a Cloud Storage account throws an error and doesn't delete the Cloud Storage Account.
Fixed HTTP Error 400. The request URL is invalid error when a license key is appended with a new line character.
Fixed issue with registered user goes to not enabled when it should stay as enabled.
Fixed issue ManagementServer.Service.ScheduledTask.exe taking excessive CPU time.

Cloud (xSP) related features and fixes:

Added "undelete" feature to backup server storage restore utility.
Added optimizations to the code for Cloud (xSP) Storage Server device, to improve performance and stability.
Fixed issue with local Cloud (xSP) device restore does not allow for restoration of different versions, only latest version is restored.
Fixed issue with Cloud (xSP) local data restore, when changing the device configuration to restore from local storage instead of the Storage Server for Cloud (xSP) data restore.
Fixed issue trying to restore an Cloud (xSP) backup to an alternate location on a different volume fails.
Fixed issue Scheduled Cloud (xSP) backup when using the option to use my current windows credentials passes nothing when connected via RDP.
Fixed blocking dialog box, stating A connection could not be established to the Backup Server.., in the client when backing up to Cloud (xSP) Storage Server that is not available, as it stops other backups.
Fixed issue Cloud (xSP) Storage Server configuration manager 'Tools' menu in account properties cannot handle username with a space.
Fixed issue Cloud (xSP) Storage Server move user data cannot handle paths over 255 characters.
Fixed issue Cloud (xSP) Storage Server account roll-ups, if canceled midway through roll-up, can put accounts over quota.
Fixed issue Cloud (xSP) clients that pull a license from the Storage Server can sometimes expire and not pull a new license.
Fixed issue exception AssertionFailed0 : assertion violation for expression 'tokenHandle != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE'.

What's new in Granular Restore 21.0.1.54276 (Jul 12, 2019) ?

Granular Restore 21.0.1.54276 contains support for newer Exchange Server versions, improvements in functionality and bug fixes.
- You can check your installed version from within the Granular Restore application to see what version is installed.
New major features and improvements:
- Numerous fixes related to reading Exchange 2019 databases.
- Optimization of the execution time of operations.
- Fixes associated with previous versions.

Known Issues

When Importing a backup, which already has an entry on the Restore tab from a different location, the software is unable to replace the existing entry, but indicates the Import operation was successful.
- To Import a backup that was moved, delete the reference to the entry on the Restore tab that was originally written to a different location before performing the Import operation
This specific build (v19.4.916) has a known display issue for the overall "Progress" bar when running a file backup or copy job. If the "Completed Files" count is increasing, the job is moving data.

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19.3.408

Release Date: 11APR2019

Fixed Bugs

Fixed issues where failed backup jobs added to the scheduler using "One Time" mode repeat immediately after completing.
xSP client: Fixed issues where the backup client can't connect to the backup server using Windows credentials and Remote Desktop.

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19.3.311

Release Date: 13MAR2019

NovaBACKUP 19.3 Release Notes (PDF)

General features and fixes

Added support for Windows Server 2019 and Fall Windows 10 patch
New feature to show the "Maximum number of activations" for a license key in the Help > About area
Suppress warning messages in logs related to having multiple connections to the same network location
The software will no longer automatically hold any failed job for any reason, all completed jobs will be rescheduled according to their schedule settings
Fixed LogViewer unable to display non UTF-8 characters that are valid in Windows
Fixed displaying the number of skipped files and the duration of the backup in the job log summary tab
Fixed issues displaying the elapsed time in logs
Fixed issues with System State restore
Fixed BackupClientAgent crashes when laptop goes to sleep during backup by closing laptop lid
Fixed logs of copy jobs not showing amount of data copied

Image backup related features and fixes

New feature to create an image backup directly to VHDX format
New feature to convert an existing image backup to VHDX format
Fixed issues when performing an image backup with more than one disk selected
Fixed issues with image backup retention if underscore character in the image backup name
Fixed issues when creating differential images on systems with UEFI boot mode

CMon related features and fixes

New feature for users to sign up and create cloud storage accounts in the CMon interface
Fixed issues with backup client agents sending logs to CMon
Fixed issues with backup client agents sending logs from jobs with long names to CMon
Fixed issues where CMon may report out of memory errors with many agents connected at the same time
Fixed issues when installing CMon and using a web server port other than port 80
Fixed CMon displaying UTC instead of localized time (on Dashboard only)

xSP related features and fixes

Fixed System State - System Volume failing to backup
Fixed issues when backing up from NAS or network location to an xSP/cloud device
Fixed cloud storage account quota size indicated in the backup client
Fixed cleaning up temporary files
Fixed performance issues restoring from a cloud device
Fixed issues when storage server work directory is on a NAS
Fixed issues when installing the storage server without the database
Fixed issues with SQL and Exchange backups to xSP/cloud device
Fixed issues displaying the size of SQL and Exchange backups
Fixed issues with System State restore
Fixed issues when backing up from NAS or network location to an xSP/cloud device
Fixed issues where the storage server may report "Storage corruption detected" and "Unable to delete file" errors
Fixed issues retaining the user and master log directories when upgrading the storage server
Fixed issues with storage server if storage drive is disconnected
Fixed issues with the staging directory when backing up to an xSP device
Fixed issue where the xSP client could not restore to two drives at the same time i.e. C & D
Fixed issue where the storage server would hold onto a bad file and not release the handle on the file until the backup server service was restarted.

What's new in Granular Restore 20.4.4.54016 ?

NovaBACKUP Granular Restore 20.4.4.54016 Release Notes (txt)

Granular Restore 20.4.4.54016 contains support for newer Exchange Server versions, improvements in functionality and bug fixes. You can check your installed version from within the Granular Restore application to see what version is installed.

New major features and improvements:
- Support work with Exchange Server version 2013 CU21
- Support work with Exchange Server version 2010 Update Rollup 24
- Improved work with recurring items
- Improved work in reading of attachments for Exchange Server databases
- Improved restoring into live Exchange Server
Fixed bugs:
- Fixed UI bugs
- Fixed displaying embedded images in item preview
- SQL Server - fixed displaying "date"/"datetimeoffset"/"datetime2"/"datetime" data type values

Known Issues

Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the image boot media.
Mounting Image Backups greater than 2TB crashes the system (BSOD) when running on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2.
Mounting of large DR Images fails if files become larger than 3TB.

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19.2.1001

Release Date: 01OCT2018

Fixed Issues / Bugs

Fixed issues when saving xSP device settings to BackupClient.ini
xSP Staging setting was not being properly put in the backupclient.ini, so staging for xSP device did not work without manual intervention.
Fixed issues when creating an image backup on a machine with more than one Disk selected
- Image backup was only backing up Disk 0 no matter the Disk(s)/partition(s) selected

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19.2.815

Release Date: 12SEP2018

NovaBACKUP 19.2 Release Notes (PDF)

What’s new in NovaBACKUP 19.2?

Displaying the number of skipped files and the duration of the backup in the job log summary tab.
Fixed issue where the log viewer may crash when viewing some logs.
Fixed issues when backing up from OneDrive and Open File Backup is enabled.
Fixed issues when Advanced verify tries to verify directories.
Fixed job status counters and estimates to be more accurate than it was before.
Displaying the number of skipped files and the duration of the backup in the job log summary tab.

Image backup related features and fixes

Completely new boot media that fixes a large number of issues that have been reported.
New feature to create an image backup from within the boot media.
New feature to create a clone of a disk from within the boot media.
New advanced boot media will utilize the latest ADK.
Optimized determination of used sectors on image backup.
Updating storage only when changes occur on image backup.
Fixed issues where simple boot media was not an option on some systems where it should have been.
Fixed issues with Boot CD due to automatic repair, after system recovery, or duplication.
Fixed issues where restore aborts when GPT layout is created.
Fixed issues where the installation is prevented on Windows Server 2008.
Fixed issues where the creation of the sector-based image was not terminated.
Fixed issues where the disk mapping is incorrect on HPE Logical Volume Manager.
Fixed issues with GPT disks without an MSR partition in Logical Volume Manager.
Fixed a bug whereby the user couldn't exit from Image Backup if an error occurred during boot media creation.

xSP related features and fixes

Improved performance when backing up large files with xSP. Seeing upwards of a 20% backup speed increase on xSP
Updated default backup client exclusion list.
Fixed handling of file name collision in backup server
Added support for selecting reparse points, OneDrive, and de-duplicated files.
Fixed issue when changing temp folder and existing xSP device properties
Fixed issue when backing up to an xSP device related to VSS snapshots.
Fixed issue when importing staged backups
Fixed issues when deleting files from the xSP server
Fixed issue where the work directory isn't persisted during an upgrade of the backup/storage server.
Fixed issues which may cause the backup client service to fail when backing up to xSP.
Fixed issues which may cause dropped network connections when backing up to xSP.
Fixed issues when trying to back up to an xSP device on certain files.

What’s new in Granular Restore 20.4.3.57013 ?

Support added for SQL Server version 2017.
Support added for Exchange Server version 2016 CU7, CU8, CU9, and CU10.
Support added for Exchange Server version 2013 CU20.
Improved restoring contact's items.
Improved restoring into live Exchange Server.
Improved restoring items from database Exchange Server version 2016 CU7.
Resolved problems with search.
Improved restoring items' properties.
Resolved problems with restoring items to live Exchange Server.
Resolved problems with displaying data.
Resolved problems with counting of items

Known Issues

Creating Image Boot Media using the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create the image boot media.
Mounting Image Backups greater than 2TB crashes the system (BSOD) when running on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

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19.1.1423

Release Date: 23FEB2018

NOTE: If you experience a failed installation of NovaBACKUP v19.1.x, where the installation or upgrade ends prematurely please first make sure that you have obtained the latest version of NovaBACKUP 19.1.1423 and that is the version that you are attempting to install. If that installation fails then you can attempt the fix that we have for this by reading the Knowledge Base article here.

Fixed Issues / Bugs

Fixed issue with Default Settings could not be saved.
Fixed issue where Time Mode Restore would Crash the "NovaStor NovaBACKUP Backup/Copy Engine" (nsService.exe) during scan.

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19.1.1410

Release Date: 10FEB2018

Fixed Issues / Bugs

Fixed issue with xSP Storage Server license monitor client (data usage reporting).

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19.1.1408

Release Date: 08FEB2018

Fixed Issues / Bugs

Fixed xSP Backup Server service crashing related to SSL certificate verification during license reporting

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19.1.1407

Release Date: 07FEB2018

Fixed Issues / Bugs

Resolved issues when trying to install NovaBACKUP xSP custom backup client on a system with the .NET Framework v2-3.x installed

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19.1.1406

Release Date: 06FEB2018

Fixed Issues / Bugs

Fixed uninstall failure when trying to uninstall DR (Disaster Recovery) Drivers which would allow NovaBACKUP to uninstall but not re-install when updating.
Fixed CustomAction UninstallVDDriver error 1603

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19.1.1402

Release Date: 06FEB2018

NovaBACKUP 19.1 Release Notes (PDF)

What’s new in NovaBACKUP 19.1?

Updated Image Backup System
- Added direct to Microsoft VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) feature to scheduled and on-demand image backup.
- Updated Image Backup Boot Disk creation to use the latest Windows 10 ADK, which works on all currently supported Operating Systems. This ADK has support for newer hardware drivers than previous.
  - The Advanced Boot Disk function now reads the path of the installed Microsoft ADK or AIK directly via the local machine's registry for Advanced Boot Disk creation. If the Windows ADK or AIK is installed already, and detected, it will not prompt you to browse to that path when creating an Advanced Boot Disk.
- Updated CMon with a New HTML User Interface and other improvements detailed in the section below.
Updated Granular Restore application with fixes detailed in the Fixed Issues / Bugs section.
Removed FTP code and support in NovaBACKUP backup client version 19.1 and newer.

What’s new in CMon 19.1?

Added the ability to monitor progress of ongoing backup on specific agents on demand.
Added high level dashboard statistics.
Added searching and filtering in the Agents and Groups screen.
Added the following fields to the Agents and Groups view: backed up data for last backup, files backed up for last backup, how long last backup took.
Added a connected column to the Agents and Groups view.
Added a setting for Time/Date format in the settings of the CMon.
Added a setting for Time Zone that dates and times should be displayed in.

Fixed Issues / Bugs

Fixed issue with file backup unable to backup encrypted files.
Fixed issue with some Windows 10 applications from the Microsoft Store cannot be backed up, the error was client file is busy, retry.
Fixed issue where Image Backup Fails to NAS with DuplicateTokenEx Error.
Fixed issue with access token errors in scheduled image backup jobs.
Fixed issue with VMware Plugin Restore if the backup was encrypted then performing the VMware Import of encrypted backup fails.
Fixed issue where unable to backup System State when some Windows applications are installed.
Fixed issue with not able to span tape when the backup job is scheduled.
Fixed issue that caused many error events that were being created in the Windows event log if an attempt to clear the archive bit on files fails. These types of errors will no longer be logged.
Fixed issues when trying to select a large number of files for restore.
Fixed chaining problem that caused some files or folders to become corrupted when mounting an incremental image backup.
Fixed system crash when mounting disk images larger than 2TB on Windows 8.x, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Server 2016.
Fixed directly generated VHD files not the same as those converted from native format (converted files were bootable, while directly generates files were not).
Fixed Microsoft SQL Backup fails if System State Temp files cannot be deleted due to a long file path.
Fixed issues with Granular Restore including resolving problems with search, connection to 2013-2016 Exchange Server with impersonation rights, improved restoring items' properties, resolved user interface problems, resolved problems with recovering attachments, resolved installer problems, improved work with PST files.
Fixed issue where the un-installer does not remove DR Drivers when you un-install NovaBACKUP.
Fixed issue with xSP Storage Server with NFS fails with error "A low disk space condition (<100MB) was detected on volume", even though disk space was not an issue.
Fixed CMon may not automatically purge log entries in the database older than the specified number of days in the configuration.
Removed check in xSP to upgrade storage to FastBIT 3.

System Requirement – NovaBACKUP

Added support for SQL Server 2017 in the NovaBACKUP backup client, xSP Storage Server, xSP Application Updater, and xSP Remote Manager.
Changed the xSP Storage Server so that newer clients can talk to older xSP Storage Servers.
Removed requirement in xSP Storage Server installation for Microsoft .NET 3.51.
Removed requirement in xSP Storage Server installation to replace SQL Server 2008 R2 Express with SQL.
Removed Support for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. You will not be able to install NovaBACKUP on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP OS with NovaBACKUP v17.6, and newer.
- Removed Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 code in NovaBACKUP backup client completely in this release.
Removed Support for Windows Vista.
- You will not be able to install NovaBACKUP on Windows Vista with NovaBACKUP 19.0 and newer

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19.0.712

Release Date: 13JUL2017

Two issues were fixed solely with the backup client in v19.0.712 which are detailed below. There were no new features in this release.

Fixed issues / bugs – NovaBACKUP

Fixed issue with incomplete copyright notice on the backup client splash screen.
No longer creates logging errors in the Windows event log if an attempt to clear the archive bit on files fails. No longer creates summary messages in the NovaBACKUP backup logs if an attempt to clear the archive bit on files fails.

The errors in the Windows event log (Application logs) would contain entries with event Source = nsService.exe. Example log entry is shown at the bottom. This item also fixes a NovaBACKUP job logs related issue with Full and Incremental file backups where those two methods of file backup were displaying messages or warnings in the backup job logs having to do with the fact that if selected files were protected files, which most anti-virus and anti-malware software now does not allow changing the archive bit property on files that anti-virus software utilize, would cause the job status to show additional messages such as "Summary message limit exceeded. 38 additional messages saved in C:\ProgramData\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\Logs\5968f9b3.events.xml", in order to see all of those 38 messages you would have to open the "*events.xml" file, as they won't be displayed directly in the LogViewer application when viewing that log inside NovaBACKUP. The messages have to do with files that in this example are all owned by the popular and often utilized anti-malware software called Malwarebytes, this software protects all of its own files. There are log messages and event log entries for each one of the files that this software contains where the archive bit was attempted to be set and since the files were protecting themselves then NovaBACKUP could not make the archive bit change to the file. In this case, when using an earlier version prior to v19.0.712, even if all files were backed up successfully, because the archive bit could not be set on these protected files that were part of the selection to backup. This is because the Full and Incremental file backup modes utilize the archive bit for each file that is backed up and if the archive bit cannot be set, since the file is protecting itself from that type of property change, NovaBACKUP cannot apply that archive bit file property change and causes that type of log entry to be shown for that reason. An example Windows event log such as this would occur for each file that is part of an antivirus or anti-malware software's own file set, if that software protects its own files from modification including modifying the archive bit, in this case we can see that the popular and often utilized Malwarebytes anti-malware program is protecting its own files as to cause this event log entry to be created in the example below:
Exception 'Base:104'

(executive.cpp(1674) unexpected failure)
UnableToSetAttributes : Unable to set attributes for file 
'C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Anti-Malware\scenegraph\softwarecontext.dll'
   --> CHECKPOINTED AT executive.cpp(1646)
   --> THROWN FROM FileSystem\Files.cpp(451)
CAUSED BY Win32Error : Function: SetFileAttributes, error = 0x80070005, 
Access is denied.
   --> THROWN FROM FileSystem\Files.cpp(446)

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19.0.531

Release Date: 07JUN2017

New Features – NovaBACKUP

Improved performance of import and restore operations for file-based backups
- Increased speeds when scanning, indexes are now stored with backup media
- Import now takes minutes (previous versions could take hours)
New logic prevents users from incorrectly selecting "overwrite media" on incremental backups
Removed the check for application updates before each backup runs except when backing up to an xSP storage device
Added Korean language support

System Requirement – NovaBACKUP

NovaBACKUP requires GUID (GPT) partition style to be set for a destination storage device that is an external hard drive which is 2TB or larger in physical size. Please read our Knowledge Base article on this subject which contains instructions on how to verify if your drive is the older MBR partition style and how to set the drive to GUID (GPT). If you rotate/swap external hard drives, be sure to check each drive to verify that it is using GUID (GPT). If this requirement is not in place, and you are using a external hard drive that is 2TB or larger, but not set to GUID (GPT), then your backups will most likely randomly fail. We cannot support NovaBACKUP in your environment if this requirement is not met.
Certified for Windows 10 and supports Microsoft Windows 10 Creators Update
Removed Support for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.
- You will not be able to install NovaBACKUP on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP OS with NovaBACKUP v17.6, and newer.
Removed Support for Windows Vista.
- You will not be able to install NovaBACKUP on Windows Vista with NovaBACKUP 19.0 and newer

New Features – NovaBACKUP Granular Restore v20.2.0.55471

Support work with Exchange Server version 2016 CU3 and 2016 CU4.
Support work with Outlook 2016 PST files.
Added feature to search and highlight in items preview.
Improved working with SQL Server files.
Minor improvements in user interface.

New Features – NovaStor Log Collector v19.1.608.1

Replaced the NovaStorLoggingApp_x64.exe and NovaStorLoggingApp_x86.exe programs with NovaStor Log Collector (LogCollector.exe). The new Log Collector tool will execute quicker and be more accurate with the data compiled in the resulting logs .ZIP file.
There is now no need to have separate x64 (64-bit) and x86 (32-bit) editions of the log collector tool. The new tool is an all-in-one executable.
Support added for Windows 10 Creators Update (Windows 10 Version 1703). The previous NovaStor LogCollector.exe program would fail if executed on that OS.
The download link to get the current version of NovaStor Log Collector is: http://novastor.com/LogCollector.

Fixed issues / bugs – NovaBACKUP

Backup no longer hangs on Outlook PST files with VSS OFF (skips locked PST files)
Fixed issue where retention doesn't delete files on a 32-bit Operating System
Fixed issue where scheduled incremental image backups fail after a full backup is run
Fixed issue where the setup installer fails to install the ext file system driver if the code signing certificate has expired, which causes the installation to roll back
Fixed localization of reports with text corrections to UI (German; Copy Settings)
Fixed issues when restoring from xSP where client cannot restore file following DST time change
CMon now automatically re-establishes connection to the server should it become disconnected
CMon now maintains server settings even if .NET 4 is not installed (rather than reverting to default)

Known Issues – NovaBACKUP

Creating boot CDs with the "Simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. If these files are missing, use the "Advanced" mode to create a boot CD.
A backup client with a newer major version cannot connect to an older NovaBACKUP Storage Server (xSP Device).

Notes

All installations require an Administrator Account and cannot be installed under a Limited User Account. All installations require a TCP/IP network with active Internet connection for service, support, and software activation.
There were changes to the CMon (Central Monitoring Console) application and you should definitely upgrade to CMon v19.0.531 if you are going to utilize it with NovaBACKUP 19.0.531. Please upgrade over the top of your existing installation of CMon to update it.

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Version 18.x

18.7.1723

Release Date: 25MAY2017

New Features – NovaBACKUP

Improved backup speed. Actual performance increase varies depending on the hardware and configuration, but is expected to average roughly 10% when backing up to external devices such as USB or NAS drives.
Advanced Backup Verification of back-up data files (optional). The backup jobs perform double-data reads and comparison at a low-level.
Single pass image recovery scans the last full image backup, then goes through each subsequent incremental image backup to acquire any later file revisions for a seamless System Image recovery process.
Added ability to specify a custom subject line in existing email notification settings (excluding virtual machine backup jobs)
'Shutdown' and 'Restart' options added to backup jobs (excluding virtual machine backup jobs)
Removed Express Wizard from NovaBACKUP version 18.0 and newer.
Numerous Stability Improvements

System Requirement – NovaBACKUP

NovaBACKUP requires GUID (GPT) partition style to be set for a destination storage device that is an external hard drive which is 2TB or larger in physical size. Please read our Knowledge Base article on this subject which contains instructions on how to verify if your drive is the older MBR partition style and how to set the drive to GUID (GPT). If you rotate/swap external hard drives, be sure to check each drive to verify that it is using GUID (GPT). If this requirement is not in place, and you are using a external hard drive that is 2TB or larger, but not set to GUID (GPT), then your backups will most likely randomly fail. We cannot support NovaBACKUP in your environment if this requirement is not met.
Removed Support for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.
- You will not be able to install NovaBACKUP on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP OS with NovaBACKUP v17.6, and newer.

New Features – NovaBACKUP Granular Restore v20.1.0.55021

Support for search queries with the operator "LIKE" in SQL tables.
Improved working with incomplete and deleted items.
Improved working with items and attachments with special characters.

Fixed issues / bugs – NovaBACKUP

Fixed issue where the time-based restore tab was not showing all the expected tick marks when initially displayed, and was not correctly filtering the file set for the selected date and time.
Fixed issue when trying to restore data to network locations.
Fixed issue where a backup could fail if no network is available on systems that use double-byte character sets (for example, Japanese or Korean).
Fixed issue when trying to import backup if data is encrypted.
Fixed issue that may have occurred when attempting to span tapes.
Fixed issue when trying to create Simple Mode Boot disc.
Fixed issue where Image Backup failed to write boot image directly to optical media.
Improved error handling to fix issue where error alert was generated by a restore from user with invalid credentials.
Fixed issue where the wrong default value for backup retention setting is used when creating a new retention job.
Fixed localization issues for some languages and references to Disaster Recovery versus Image Backup.
Disabled JavaScript error dialogs that may appear in embedded web browsers.
Removed analytics, which was causing warnings with some security software products.
Fixed issues when opening log files that were created in a different date time format than what is currently configured on the system.
Fixed issue where CMon is not able to show log details of Image Jobs.
Fixed issue when restoring drive from image backup where the partition drive letters have changed from their original drive letters
Fixed issue where the Virtual Dashboard may produce an error message after performing an upgrade from or to a custom backup client build
Fixed issue when the context menu is not displayed properly on Windows 10 when right-clicking in the “Open” dialog.
Fixed issue where the setup installer failed to install the optional VMware related virtual disk mount and ext file system driver if the code signing certificate was expired, which causes the entire NovaBACKUP Backup Client installation to roll back; this could occur on fresh and upgrade installs.

Fixed issues / bugs – NovaBACKUP Granular Restore v20.2.0.55471

Resolved problem with SQL.bak files do not open.
Resolved problem with search in SQL Server files.
Resolved some problems with restoring sender's name.
Resolved some problems with exporting items into live Exchange Server.

Fixed issues / bugs – NovaBACKUP Granular Restore v20.1.0.55264

Resolved problem with inability to process SQL Server database backup .bak files.

Fixed issues / bugs – NovaBACKUP Granular Restore v20.1.0.55021

Resolved problems with previewing items in the product
Resolved problems in user interface
Resolved problem with incorrect highlighting during search
Resolved problem with search in name of attachments
Resolved problem with exporting properties of items
Resolved problems seen in cases with insufficient disk space

Known Issues – NovaBACKUP

Creating boot CDs with the "simple" mode requires the presence of Windows installation files on the system. If these files are missing, use the "advanced" mode to create a boot CD.

Notes

All installations require an Administrator Account and cannot be installed under a Limited User Account. All installations require a TCP/IP network with active Internet connection is required for service, support, and software activation.

There have been no changes to the CMon (Central Monitoring Server) application since CMon version 18.1.705, so there is no need to upgrade to CMon v18.7.1417 unless you do not already have CMon v18.1 in place.

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18.5.926

Release Date: 27SEP2016

New Features – NovaBACKUP

Removed Express Wizard from NovaBACKUP version 18.0 and newer.

New Features – NovaBACKUP Granular Restore v20.0.0.54178

Windows Server 2016 support
Exchange Server:
- Exchange Server 2016 CU1 and Exchange Server 2016 CU2 support (open, search, export into PST, export into original/live server, open using transaction logs)
- Greatly improved work with Exchange Server databases (increasing speeds of reading and searching processes)
- Improved work with big-size databases
- Added support searching with wildcards in the start of request
SQL Server:
- SQL Server 2016 support (open, search, export into SQL scripts, export into live server)

Fixed issues / bugs

Enhance reporting in the backup server in cases where a connection to the client could not be established.
Fixed copy jobs if they're set to overwrite older files so that the logs do not indicate the files were skipped.
Fixed restoring Hyper-V virtual machines to their original location from the Virtual Dashboard.
Fixed daylight savings time issues with scheduled backup jobs.
Backup logs no longer display warnings if Open File Backup is enabled and only network shares are being backed up.
Fixed issue where partitions may not be available for selection when scheduling an image backup.
Fixed Image Backup's ability to distinguish between two or more removable devices with same name.
Fixed GUI issues when the backup client is running on systems with high resolution displays, larger fonts, and/or increased text size.
Fixed PDF Help in Image Backup
Implemented various bug fixes for VMware virtual machine backups.
Fixed memory leak after disconnecting from a VMware virtual machine.
Fixed issue where a VMware restore/replication fails if a virtual machine with the same name already exists.
Fixed possible DLL conflict when vmware.exe is deployed on the vCenter Server.
Virtual Dashboard message boxes can be positioned behind the main application's window.
Virtual Dashboard UI behaves unexpectedly when resized and maximized.
Fixed "Unable to initialize SDS kernel" errors due to corrupt or missing files which may prevent the backup client from running
Fixed help buttons and menu items within the backup client
Fixed issue when creating scheduled backup jobs where the password for the credentials were not being saved
Using the current time as the default time when editing a scheduled job (that doesn't already have a time) in the Virtual Dashboard
Replaced "Management Server" with "CMon Server" (Start Menu, Server Admin, Backup Client)

Known Issues

When right-clicking in the Open dialog, context menu is not displayed properly on Windows 10.

Notes

All installations require an Administrator Account and cannot be installed under a Limited User Account. All installations require a TCP/IP network with active Internet connection is required for service, support, and software activation.
Since nothing was changed in the CMon application since version 18.1.705 the version number stays at v18.1.705. CMon v18.1.705 is fully compatible with NovaBACKUP v18.5 backup client software.

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18.1.705

Release Date: 05JUL2016

New Features – NovaBACKUP

Replaced Kroll Ontrack Single Mailbox Restore for Exchange with NovaStor Granular Restore (NBGR) for granular restore of Microsoft Exchange single mailboxes and Microsoft SQL Server. Download the User Manual. For information on what versions of Exchange and SQL the NovaStor Granular Restore for Exchange and SQL application supports please read the section below "Known Issues". NBGR will only function with the Business Essentials edition of NovaBACKUP.
Removed Express Wizard from NovaBACKUP version 18.0 and newer.

Fixed issues / bugs

Fixed "Unable to initialize SDS kernel" errors due to corrupt or missing files which may prevent the backup client from running.
Fixed help buttons and menu items within the backup client.
Fixed issue when creating scheduled backup jobs where the password for the credentials were not being saved
Replaced "Management Server" with "CMon Server" (Start Menu, Server Admin, Backup Client).
Implemented various bug fixes for VMware virtual machine backups.
Fixed memory leak after disconnecting from a VMware virtual machine.
Fixed issue where a VMware restore/replication fails if a virtual machine with the same name already exists.
Fixed possible DLL conflict when vmware.exe is deployed on the vCenter Server.
Virtual Dashboard message boxes can be positioned behind the main application's window.
Virtual Dashboard UI behaves unexpectedly when resized and maximized.

Known issues

When right-clicking in the “Open” dialog, context menu is not displayed properly on Windows 10.

NovaStor Granular Restore Supported Applications

Microsoft Exchange mail store database versions

2007 RTM
2007 SP1
2007 SP2
2007 SP3
2010 RTM
2010 SP1
2010 SP2
2010 SP3
2013 RTM
2013 SP1
2016 RTM

Microsoft Outlook (PST/OST) version files

2007
2010
2013

Microsoft SQL Server database (MDF/BAK) versions

2008
2008 R2
2012
2014
Added virtual machine jobs to backup summary reports
Display the version number of CMon in the footer section on authenticated pages after logging in

NovaBACKUP Central Monitoring Console (CMon) Client

Client-Side Supported HTML5 Web Browsers (Desktop/Tablet/Mobile Phone)

Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 or higher
Microsoft Edge 25.10586 or higher
Google Chrome 51 or higher
Mozilla Firefox 47 or higher
Apple Safari 9.1 or higher
Apple Mobile Safari 6.0 or higher
Android Browser 5.0 or higher
Blackberry 10 browser or higher
Opera Mobile 10 or higher
Amazon Silk

Client-Side Browser Requirements

JavaScript must be enabled
Cookies must be enabled
Local storage must be enabled with a minimum size of 10KB
Internet Explorer specific requirements:
- Active scripting must be enabled
- Enhanced Security must be disabled
- Protected Mode must be disabled
- Compatibility mode must be disabled
- Script debugging disabled
- File downloads must be enabled for downloading reports

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18.0.1819

Release Date: 21JUN2016

New Features – NovaBACKUP

Added support for VMware SAN, SCSI HotAdd, and SSL virtual disk transport modes for virtual machine backups
Added support for VMware vSphere 6 when TLS is enforced
Added email notification options to the Virtual Dashboard
Removed Express Wizard from NovaBACKUP version 18.0 and newer.

And a very significant NEW product, the CMon Central Monitoring Console - available as a free download:

http://novabackup.novastor.com/data-backup-products/central-monitoring-console/ (This product Replaced by CMon)

System Requirement – NovaBACKUP

NovaBACKUP requires GUID (GPT) partition style to be set for a destination storage device that is an external hard drive which is 2TB or larger in physical size. Please read our Knowledge Base article on this subject which contains instructions on how to verify if your drive is the older MBR partition style and how to set the drive to GUID (GPT). If you rotate/swap external hard drives, be sure to check each drive to verify that it is using GUID (GPT). If this requirement is not in place, and you are using a external hard drive that is 2TB or larger, but not set to GUID (GPT), then your backups will most likely randomly fail. We cannot support NovaBACKUP in your environment if this requirement is not met.
Added Support for Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (and Hyper-V 2016)
Added Support for Microsoft SQL 2016
Added Support for Microsoft Exchange 2016
Added native 64-bit backup client (automatically installed on 64-bit operating systems)
Removed Support for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.
- You will not be able to install NovaBACKUP on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP OS with NovaBACKUP v17.6, and newer.

Fixed issues / bugs

Implemented various bug fixes for VMware virtual machine backups.
Fixed memory leak after disconnecting from a VMware virtual machine.
Fixed issue where a VMware restore/replication fails if a virtual machine with the same name already exists.
Fixed possible DLL conflict when vmware.exe is deployed on the vCenter Server.
Virtual Dashboard message boxes can be positioned behind the main application's window.
Virtual Dashboard UI behaves unexpectedly when resized and maximized.

Known issues

Image backup may fail when the destination is a NAS that uses the SMB 2.0 protocol. (Example: Western Digital's MyCloud device)
When right-clicking in the Open dialog, context menu is not displayed properly on Windows 10

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Unsupported NovaBACKUP Version / Changelog Archive

You can see the archived changelog here: Unsupported NovaBACKUP Version / Changelog Archive

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Other Notes

Note: Some versions of our products may not be able to install on older OS's, so if we provide you the download link for a previous version and you choose to attempt to install or run it on an unsupported OS then Technical Support will be limited. If you install or run any NovaBACKUP product on a currently unsupported OS (see notes about this in the Current Version / Changelog article), then Technical Support will be limited. Installing our products may not be possible on an OS that Microsoft has ended support for. See the Microsoft Product End of Support page for more information. The NovaBACKUP Support team cannot assist you with installing any of our products on an unsupported OS; and some functionality may be limited in that case if for instance there is a bug fix to resolve an issue that requires upgrading to a newer version of our products, and due to your installed unsupported OS that is not feasible to do.

Partner builds and xSP / OEM versions of NovaBACKUP will be one minor version higher than listed above but are the same technical versions (e.g. - Version 16.5.1216 is the partner version of NovaBACKUP 16.5.1215). For Partner-Specific downloads of NovaBACKUP, please be sure to sign up as a NovaStor ValueCreate! Partner and you can find the downloads at your Partner Portal

Articles in this section

Current NovaBACKUP Version: 21.1.903

Issues Installing NovaBACKUP? Start Here: Installation ends prematurely on client install

Changelog

NovaBACKUP Major Version Highlights

Microsoft Support Policy EoL (End of Life) Notes

Jump to a Release

Version 21.1.x

21.1.903

Release Date: 5SEP2024

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Known Issues or limitations with this version

NOTES:

Version 21.0.x

21.0.410

Release Date: 12APR2024

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Removed Features

All NovaBACKUP products

Known Issues or limitations with this version

NOTES:

21.0.319

Release Date: 21MAR2024

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Known Issues or limitations with this version

NOTES:

Version 20.1.x

20.1.1108

Release Date: 13NOV2023

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Known Issues

20.1.913

Release Date: 18SEP2023

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

NovaBACKUP Storage Server

Known Issues

20.1.808

Release Date: 10AUG2023

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Fixed Issues

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Removed Features / New Requirements

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client

Known Issues

NOTES:

Version 20.0.x

20.0.1118

Release Date: 20NOV2022

New Features

NovaBACKUP Central Management

NovaBACKUP Client